The saga of Georgia Nicolson is one most likely to be appreciated by a teenage girl between the ages of 12 and 16. I watched hoping for some good drama and comedy, but left disappointed by the lack of depth in the characters and the coarseness of the jokes. Also, the love interests for Georgia and her best mate Jas are personality-less pretty boys without an ounce of charisma, which makes you wonder why they are pursued with such ferocity by our big-nosed heroine and her blonde friend. Ooh, one works in an organic fruit shop and the other in the lead singer in a band. Talk about too perfect.
Plus can we have a film where the parents aren't a down-with-it mum and a dopey dad? Hearing Mrs Nicolson describing schoolboys as 'fitties' and lusting after a shirtless builder about 20 years her junior might be embarrassing, but it isn't especially funny. And the less said about Alan Davies's confusion over how many pairs of brown trousers to take to work abroad with him, and his bad dancing at his daughter's birthday disco (more on that farce later..), the better.
In fact, there are so many weird'n'wacky individuals in this film there's hardly any room for normality at all, and I genuinely feel sorry for any female who can relate to it. Taking a cat for a walk on a lead? Applying moisture to turn your legs yellow before going swimming?! Going to a snog specialist's house to learn how to kiss a boy, who is so popular he has to squeeze you into a 30 minute session??! Yeah, right.
This seriously harms the credibility of the film when there are so many surreal elements, which constantly take you out of the action and leave you scratching your head and saying out loud: HUH?! "PEOPLE DON'T BEHAVE LIKE THAT!!" Balanced alongside the more tender, soap opera-ish moments the formula doesn't match up, and you're left with a bit of a mess.
The ending deserves a paragraph all to itself. Only a scriptwriter could construct something as ridiculous as this: In the space of five minutes in a 'surprise party' every problem is solved: All relationships are reconciled, an unwanted move to New Zealand is cancelled when her father gets a promotion at home, The nasty girl is humiliated on stage when her boob padding is removed by Jas, and Georgia gets a song dedicated to her by her new beau on the main stage. Oh bless! Even Georgina's other nerdy girlfriends get introduced to more vapid pretty boys so they can have equally vapid pretty babies when they grow up.
One problem: this is the most phony, contrived, unrealistic conclusion to a movie I have seen for ages. I know they want to end on a happy note, but this definitely overdoing it. By a LLOONNGG way. Oh and Georgie: your new song is pure, unadulterated sh**e. And your dreamboat is obviously miming. Sorry, luv.
Perhaps I'm disappointed that I disagree with the main theme of the film so much: that getting a boyfriend is the be and end-all when you're 14. When I was her age, I was more bothered about what was on TV and my homework to bother with the opposite sex. In this movie however, Nearly every action and thought the heroine has is to manipulate the tedious hunk to being her squeeze. This is even before she's even spoken to him: one flash of those baby blues and she's all OMG I MUST AVE IM!!
How about actually erm.. finding out if he's a good person, or discovering if you've got similar interests? Pretending you've lost your pet so he can help you look for it, or suddenly discovering a passion for hated veg just to get him into bed won't work in the long term of a partnership. Well, I suppose it does in the film, but that's because the object her affection is as dumb as a rock. You can only put up a front for so long..
Phew, I said enough. I set out to write a quick article and ended up with possibly my longest review ever. Typical. But it had to be said. Watch lovers of the book mark this way down. Do I care? Not a jot. Fire away, you know I am right ;)... 4/10
Plus can we have a film where the parents aren't a down-with-it mum and a dopey dad? Hearing Mrs Nicolson describing schoolboys as 'fitties' and lusting after a shirtless builder about 20 years her junior might be embarrassing, but it isn't especially funny. And the less said about Alan Davies's confusion over how many pairs of brown trousers to take to work abroad with him, and his bad dancing at his daughter's birthday disco (more on that farce later..), the better.
In fact, there are so many weird'n'wacky individuals in this film there's hardly any room for normality at all, and I genuinely feel sorry for any female who can relate to it. Taking a cat for a walk on a lead? Applying moisture to turn your legs yellow before going swimming?! Going to a snog specialist's house to learn how to kiss a boy, who is so popular he has to squeeze you into a 30 minute session??! Yeah, right.
This seriously harms the credibility of the film when there are so many surreal elements, which constantly take you out of the action and leave you scratching your head and saying out loud: HUH?! "PEOPLE DON'T BEHAVE LIKE THAT!!" Balanced alongside the more tender, soap opera-ish moments the formula doesn't match up, and you're left with a bit of a mess.
The ending deserves a paragraph all to itself. Only a scriptwriter could construct something as ridiculous as this: In the space of five minutes in a 'surprise party' every problem is solved: All relationships are reconciled, an unwanted move to New Zealand is cancelled when her father gets a promotion at home, The nasty girl is humiliated on stage when her boob padding is removed by Jas, and Georgia gets a song dedicated to her by her new beau on the main stage. Oh bless! Even Georgina's other nerdy girlfriends get introduced to more vapid pretty boys so they can have equally vapid pretty babies when they grow up.
One problem: this is the most phony, contrived, unrealistic conclusion to a movie I have seen for ages. I know they want to end on a happy note, but this definitely overdoing it. By a LLOONNGG way. Oh and Georgie: your new song is pure, unadulterated sh**e. And your dreamboat is obviously miming. Sorry, luv.
Perhaps I'm disappointed that I disagree with the main theme of the film so much: that getting a boyfriend is the be and end-all when you're 14. When I was her age, I was more bothered about what was on TV and my homework to bother with the opposite sex. In this movie however, Nearly every action and thought the heroine has is to manipulate the tedious hunk to being her squeeze. This is even before she's even spoken to him: one flash of those baby blues and she's all OMG I MUST AVE IM!!
How about actually erm.. finding out if he's a good person, or discovering if you've got similar interests? Pretending you've lost your pet so he can help you look for it, or suddenly discovering a passion for hated veg just to get him into bed won't work in the long term of a partnership. Well, I suppose it does in the film, but that's because the object her affection is as dumb as a rock. You can only put up a front for so long..
Phew, I said enough. I set out to write a quick article and ended up with possibly my longest review ever. Typical. But it had to be said. Watch lovers of the book mark this way down. Do I care? Not a jot. Fire away, you know I am right ;)... 4/10