DVD Reviews

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

• Rating:
• Director: Gurinder Chadha
• Starring: Aaron Johnson
• Details: US / 90mins (PG).

A PG version of Superbad for girls, Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging follows the trials and tribulations of fourteen-year-old Georgia (Groome) as she attempts to woo the gorgeous school newbie Robbie (Johnson) away from bitchy blond Lindsay (Kimberley Nixon). She also has to deal with her father's possible move to New Zealand, worries that her mother is having an affair with a builder, fends off the attentions of a nerd and is afraid that her nose is too big. Adapted from Louise Rennison's novels - Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging and On The Bright Side, I'm Now A Girlfriend Of A Sex God - this comedy from Bend It Like Beckham director Chadha is a roll call of teenage girl's dreams and nightmares: squeezing zits, boys, stuffing bras, boys, the importance of the perfect outfit, boys, the forgetting of best friends once you land a fella, boys, bitchy girls, boys, mind games and those annoying mixed signals you get from - you guessed it – boys. Although the majority of gags here aren't that funny, that's not to say girls under sixteen years of age will find them hilarious. A charming, inoffensive, if superfluous, comedy, this could be the summer's sleeper hit. Result!

Review by Gavin Burke