This female Adrian Mole is strictly for the girls
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (12A) Director Gurinder Chadha Starring Georgia Groome, Aaron Johnson, Eleanor Tomlinson, Alan Davies and Karen Taylor 100 mins Two star rating After some success with films aimed at a female audience, Gurinder Chadha (B
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (12A)
Director Gurinder Chadha Starring Georgia Groome, Aaron Johnson, Eleanor Tomlinson, Alan Davies
and Karen Taylor
100 mins
Two star rating
After some success with films aimed at a female audience, Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice) narrows her aim with a film whose appeal is restricted to teenage schoolgirls.
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Taken from a successful series of books by Louise Rennison, it tells the tale of 14-year-old Georgia (Groome) and her pursuit of perfect boy Robbie (Johnson.)
Georgia sounds like a kind of modern day Adrian Mole.
She writes a diary, narrates her thoughts to the audience and considers herself and her friends generally superior to the rest of the kids in school.
But I don't think she'll translate to adults the way Sue Townsend's creation did.
Georgia's designs on a new boy Robbie seem thwarted by him going out with her enemy Wet Lindsey.
You can tell Lindsey is shallow and evil because the actress playing her is made up to look exactly like Amanda Holden.
There's something Beckhamesque about his line delivery but Johnson's Robbie is the embodiment of the soft and soppy, non-threatening dreamboat.
If he were an American from the 80s/90s, he'd be called Corey.
Sixteen-year-old Groome was startlingly good in the harrowing From London To Brighton. But she's no Lindsay Lohan - and I don't mean that as a compliment.
She doesn't have the kind of star personality for a role where you directly address the audience through a voiceover.
Once she's required to do something more dramatic, she begins to get a grip on the role and you see what a terrific actress she is.
I'm no more qualified to speak about what teenage girls may enjoy than I am to go through a page of Stephen Hawking's equations to check his adding up.
They apparently love the books so there must be an audience for it - though perhaps restricted to the nicer, just-grown-out-of CBeebies end of the market.
I'm not sure if it is quite funny or realistic enough to really please an audience - but it is sweet-natured and that should count for something.
