Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)

Jennifer Saunders should be applauded for her efforts, but things did not come together in endeavor because the essential element that made her show successful, copious humor, was difficult to find. Given her pre-2012 specials, which easily could have been movies, the idea of making this film was certainly reasonable. After watching the movie, which I had highly anticipated, I was left a bit bewildered and wondering if I just missed something. I decided to watch the movie again the next day, this time looking specifically for the redeeming features. Rebel Wilson, in a fairly brief appearance, added the most humor to the film as the sassy flight attendant - and this is mostly where the humor ended. Julia Sawalha as always gave a fine interpretation of Saffy. Kathy Burke (Magda) and Chris Colfer did fine with what they were given, but were under-utilized given their strengths; the rest of the cast all gave reasonable performances. Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness as Jane was surprisingly good at her role and could easily have been given a greater presence in the film as well as more humor which I feel she would have delivered on. In the end however, the movie played out much more as a drama than a comedy. Sometimes these things work out and sometimes they don't. I will always remember and continue to watch the series, which is rife with humor. As for the movie, I have nothing but respect for Saunders, but instead of adding this one to my collection, it will enter the world of Ebay.

Our two protagonists are still struggling to maintain an actively dissolute lifestyle on an increasingly minimal budget when a major opportunity raises its head. And then it all goes horribly wrong...For the benefit of our US and worldwide friends, Absolutely Fabulous (or AbFab, as it became known) was a BBC sitcom which ran for 41 episodes from 1992, though with some lengthy gaps between series. Written by Jennifer Saunders, she also played Edina Monsoon, an amoral and self-centred PR representative, mostly accompanied by Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), an equally self-centred and perpetually drunk and drugged ex-model. I'll offer up a confession: I watched very little of AbFab on TV as I didn't care for the main characters and consequently didn't find the series very funny. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the movie, which I saw in a fairly full cinema with a mature audience. Who laughed a lot. As did I.Jennifer Saunders has broadened the appeal of the series by taking it out of the small TV studio locations: the final third of the film takes place in the South of France. Eddie and Patsy remain motivated solely by greed and selfishness (and Julia Sawalha as Eddie's daughter Saffy plays her conscience, as usual), but there is sufficient material here to make it clear that their lifestyle doesn't actually enhance their quality of life, and that Eddie may occasionally glimpse that this is the case.There is a decent story here - based on silliness admittedly, but it works - with some solid laughs: verbal, as well as some good knockabout humour. And there are a host of celebrity cameos from fashion and showbiz, ranging from blink and you'll miss 'em to rather more extended cameos (Lulu as herself, amusingly, delivers all her dialogue in broad Glaswegian).I enjoyed this rather more than I expected to, although I expect that it will not travel terribly well.

I have never seen the original television series, but I came across and found it interesting to try, only to realise in my watch that it was not what I thought of it. Yeah, definitely my disadvantage was that I didn't know the characters, the universe and all the basics. Those who loved the show might enjoy it better, since they know what to expect from it. I was like looking for a proper intro. The introduction of everything, as I'm not familiar with anything out of it. But it did not come, the story just went on and on from the opening itself. I was confused what's going on, who is who and et al.It took almost half of the film to be comfortable with the scenario of the tale. Once I was there, I thought it was funny in places, yet I did not feel like to have a laugh. Again, I blame myself for missing out the fun for not knowing them very well. It never occurred to me before. I have seen many films that proceeded by its television series which I haven't seen. It looked short and the pace was excellent, so I did not get bored, except not getting the overall film properly. Otherwise, I would have rated it better. I think the people like me should be careful while picking it. Other than that it is an okay film, not a bad film.5/10

"Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie" from 2016 stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley - who else - and the rest of the cast from the TV show.Edwina (Saunders) is accused of pushing Kate Moss into the river, and probably killing her, during a party. Then Edwina and Patsy are afraid they've killed Bubble (Jane Horrocks) in yet another drowning, so they decide to leave the country. There is already a nationwide search for Edwina for Kate Moss' murder. They go to Cannes, taking Saffy's daughter Lola with them because she has credit cards. Patsy's plan is to look up a wealthy beau (Barry Humphries) from years ago and convince him to get married. Things take a decided left turn.There are many funny things in this movie - it's really for fans of the show, and if you're British it's even better, because many of the guest stars are famous in Britain and not here.If I'd paid $12 to see this, I would have been mighty disappointed, so I can understand the bad reviews. The cast is terrific, it was wonderful to see them all again, and Edwina's speech at the end is priceless. The guest stars don't add much, and as a feature film, it doesn't make it.This is a slightly longer TV episode with lots of guest stars thrown in, and that's about it.