AB FAB
Most
fans of public television know those dreadful British situation comedies, where
the canned laughter in reaction to colossally unfunny lines and situations
sounds tinny and desperate, and the characters throw pat lines at each other,
pause for the laughs, and mug outrageously.
(They may represent retaliation for the American Revolution). One comedy that didn’t appear on PBS, but ran
on a cable channel, differed drastically from the usual tepid, mechanical fare,
a wild show called Absolutely Fabulous, which
starred Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley as a couple of completely irresponsible,
decadent, hedonistic drunks, somehow surviving in the vague fields of public
relations and trendy magazines, always hunting for money and men.
The
new movie, cleverly titled Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, pretty much follows the patterns of the TV show, including
the presence of a couple of the supporting actors, venturing further into its
essential outrageousness and never really pretending to anything like
authenticity. Its makeshift plot
involves the efforts of Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley), feeling their age,
who hope to reinvigorate their failed careers by representing the model Kate
Moss, who plays herself. They end up
knocking the model into the Thames, landing in deep trouble, absconding to the
South of France, and continuing a series of often raunchy misadventures.
In
addition to Moss, several other famous people appear as themselves, including
Lulu, Joan Collins, and in a very funny little moment with Lumley, Jon Hamm. They
enhance the appeal of a silly but entertaining film overflowing with improbable
situations, bright colors, and weird characters. If the London fashion scene resembles the one
in the movie, that world is heavily populated with completely and variously
obnoxious people. Aside from piling one
excessive comic scene on top of others, the movie really consists mostly of
wild farce and exaggerated gags, or in other words, amounts to an extension of
the old TV show.
No comments:
Post a Comment