Review of St Trinian's (2007) by James T — 06 Jul 2008

It's really not as bad as people have made out. If you go into the movie expecting the worst (as I did), you will probably be pleasantly surprised. It captures the spirit of the original films perfectly, but in hindsight this may be why it wasn't successful - the original films sit fondly in most people's memories, but a second viewing of them reveals that they were actually pretty damn corny to start off with. That said, they have made the best they could of the genre and they should be applauded for that.

Rupert Everett is outstanding in the dual roles of Mr & Miss Fritton, Colin Firth is perfectly cast as the stuffy Minister of Education and Russell Brand (rather upsettingly as far as I'm concerned) is really rather good as Flash Harry - although you do get the strong impression that he's just being himself really.

The girls are all well cast, although I would say that Talulah Riley completely casts a shadow of the tabloid-acclaimed Gemma Arterton (who I was expecting much more from). The only thing that irritated me about the casting was the blatant americanisation of the brand by adding Mischa Barton, who is on screen for less than 2 minutes with an awful trans-atlantic accent and really does drag the film down a notch.

Overall I think this is a very good modern reworking of the original Ealing comedies. It's no better and no worse...even though George Cole will never be bettered. The plot and the cheekiness should keep most early teenage girls interested for the duration and there is plenty of eye candy there for the boys.

Really not as bad as I expected...but thats not saying much :).