The famous difference between American humor and British humor is about to get a definitive demonstration. Here comes “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.”
The film is a spin-off of the wickedly funny BBC sitcom, which bowed in 1992 and has been revived sporadically since. It concerns the unhealthy adventures of two horrifying London fashionistas, Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders, also the screenwriter) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), and the damage they wreak on the people around them.
In “Ab Fab: The Movie” Edina and Patsy desperately try to keep themselves relevant in a changing scene. The plot kicks into gear when Edina — angling to become the talent agent for supermodel Kate Moss — inadvertently knocks Moss into the river.
She fails to surface, and Edina and Patsy find it expedient to flee to the French Riviera. Their own personal Brexit, you might say. There are some speedbumps (they wonder how to say “champagne” in French), but somehow these two sturdy survivors manage to prevail.
The cast includes the regulars from the TV show: Julia Sawalha as Edina’s grumpy, responsible daughter Saffron; Jane Horrocks as Edina’s ditzy personal assistant, Bubble; and June Whitfield as Edina’s mother. Various celebrity cameos brighten the festivities.
The film is directed by Mandie Fletcher, who did episodes of the series, and there’s no great effort to make the movie cinematic. A few glamorous locations don’t hurt.
The main draw is Saunders and Lumley, who have internalized Edina and Patsy so thoroughly that at times they need no dialogue to get laughs. Or just one word: Lumley makes the repetition of “Gabon? Gabon?” a little comedy appetizer unto itself.
Aside from being generally funny and politically incorrect, “Absolutely Fabulous” is refreshing when set next to Hollywood comedies. In American comedy, however raunchy or wild, the center is reliably soft.
Not so in British comedy. Think of the difference between the two versions of “The Office”: the cutting edge of the Ricky Gervais version was replaced by the niceness of the Steve Carell adaptation.
Here, the boozing, chain-smoking heroines are perfectly at ease in their bad manners. Except for one acceptable moment of self-awareness, they simply crash along without redemption.
Why is that refreshing? Because the movie doesn’t feel obliged to punish Edina and Patsy so that the audience will know how to feel. We can figure out these ridiculous characters on our own. Long may they misbehave.
“Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” 3 stars
A big-screen version of the British sitcom, reuniting Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley as the two horrifying fashionistas whose misbehavior is more grotesque than ever. The movie’s reliably funny and politically incorrect, and Saunders and Lumley have the characters so internalized they barely need dialogue to score laughs.
Rating: R, for language, subject matter
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Thornton Place, Sundance Cinemas
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