First Take: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie- a very rare example of a TV adaptation that works incredibly well on the big screen

SYPNOSIS- Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London’s trendiest hot-spots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Ah, Ab Fab. One of the most iconic pieces of British pop culture. It’s a series that has proven to be popular around the world- and this film proves that. Mandie Fletcher has directed a film that’s both true to the show’s origins while also satisfying both new and old fans.

A lot of this is down to Jennifer Saunders’ script, as it builds upon many of the tropes that Eddy and Patsy exhibit in the series, taking the ridiculous nature of the series to another level for their big screen debut- and that’s before I detail the amount of cameos (57 to be precise) in the film, most of which I cannot spoil, as they are very well integrated into the plot. The performances from Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley and the entire cast are superb, and the cinematography keeps the film from being over-produced for the big screen, something which many TV-to-film adaptations just simply fail to master. Also, the soundtrack is typical of the series, with Kylie Minogue singing the iconic theme of the show over the end credits- and for those people who stay back until the very end, there’s a beauty of a post-credits scene featuring one of the 57 cameos.

THE VERDICT

Ab Fab is a film that does what it says on the tin. At a very tight 90 minutes, it feels like a feature length episode of the show, and as I write this, it’s had the biggest opening weekend of a British film so far this year- and that’s something I’m very happy about.

RATING- 5/5
6 Laugh Test- passed 29 minutes in