Popular reviews

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  Review by Robbie Owen ★ 8

  I saw Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie at a packed-to-the-rafters midday-midweek screening, full of people who, shall we say, statistically speaking probably voted Leave. I probably brought the average age down by at least thirty years, simply by having most of my own teeth.

  I usually sit down to watch a film with an open mind and sense of optimism, and leave it up to the film to make my mind up for me. Except this time, my mind was made up for me by a lady called Doris and her friend, whose name I missed but spit I caught, sat on the row behind me. During the Star Trek trailer one said they hate Simon Pegg and everything he's in.…

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  Review by single white femalien ★ 11

  this is a lot like zoolander 2 in that it wasn't particularly necessary and no one asked for it and its full of boring celebrity cameos and its hateful and unfunny and bad. and of course in a movie rife with transphobic "humor" rebel wilson my #1 enemy delivers the worst """joke""" of all. also it's probably not the worst one i just hate her so much. also any movie where there's at least 5 but probably more digs @ trans ppl is super hilarious good humor imo. also not really. i am saying opposite things for emphasis. was abfab ever actually good? i used to watch it but i don't really remember and this did not inspire any fond feelings or memories of the show so idk

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  Review by Vanina ★★★ 4

  Did everyone lose their sense of humour following Brexit? While that's completely understandable, I am slightly baffled by the terrible reviews this film is receiving. Of course, it's a film about a television show, which is hardly ever a success, but it's an energetic and enjoyable film. I do feel Ab Fab is a bit outdated now, but watching this at a pre-premiere with a few friends who like the series as well, I was cackling happily.

  Essentially this is a TV special with a slightly higher production budget, but it's a fun way to spend 90 minutes. A bit overstuffed with cameos, there are a few that work well and Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders are in top form. The film could have done with more Julia Sawalha.

  Not exceptional, but hardly deserving of the backlash.

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  Review by Jay ★ 2

  The great charm of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS was always the fatuousness and outright nescience of its two central characters, Edina Monsoon (Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Lumley). A pair of pill-popping, chain-smoking alcoholics who blundered through life without a modicum of self-awareness, Edina and Patsy represented a celebrity-obsessed industry completely removed from reality. Even in the nineties they were pitiable, wretched has-beens who would do anything and everything to try to maintain some semblance of relevance. That was the joke and we loved them both for it.

  Now, however, the joke is squarely on Saunders herself. It’s no longer her characters who are dated and out of touch but her humour and her writing. The gags are no longer at the expense…

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  Review by Tony the Terror 666 ★★★★★ 4

  I LOVE EVERYTHING THESE WOMEN HAVE EVER DONE AND THAT INCLUDES THIS MOVIE!

  The show is hands-down my favorite comedy of all time and every single episode is pure gold. This movie is more of the same. The humor is stunningly sharp and right up my alley.

  It really helps if you see the whole series before the movie because so many jokes are carried over but I still think it’s a great time either way.

  Edina is my soul spirit.
  Patsy is who I secretly want to be.
  Saffy is probably my reality.
  Bubble is who I feel like in public.
  I want to be in Emma Bunton’s inner circle.

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  Review by Mos Co ½

  Abysmal stuff.

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  Review by Tess ★★★½

  I'm gonna start a kickstarter campaign and get a team of scientists and paranormal experts to come together and research the most important and unexplained phenomenon of our time. A search to answer the most pressing question in the history of the universe, one which we stare into the night sky and ponder, a question so meaningful that all other scientific inquiries cannot possibly compete with it ... does Joanna Lumley age?

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  Review by anne_f_ ★★★★

  I'm not sure what other reviewers expected from Ab Fab The Movie, but I got exactly the kind of drunken drug-fuelled silliness I thought we'd get from Patsy and Edina, albeit with a few more famous people playing themselves than I'd foreseen. I thought it was very funny and so left the cinema feeling happy.

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  Review by loureviews ★½ 1

  I really wanted to like this as I always enjoyed the series, but Saunders is past it as Edina and there just aren't enough funny bits in this for it to be worthwhile.

  Too many celebrity cameos clutter up the screen and I got so bored, so quickly. Mark Gatiss crops up, as he seems to do in everything. Joanna Lumley is good value as always, a sparkling champagne cocktail, but I'd rather leave the rest of them in the past.

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  Review by Melody ★

  [additional: I'm not sure where to squeeze this in below but I just remembered a thought I wanted to add somewhere here: if you know me, you know I appreciate (or at least try to) when a gag is made of someone saying something terrible because the joke's on the person saying the terrible thing (just look at my recent Kevin Smith reviews), and that's the form the trans jokes take in this movie: I just feel like that Graham Norton moment well and truly makes it clear that the people behind this movie no longer understand anything enough to be trusted that far…]

  
  "It might be worth living but it isn't worth writing about."

  There's a moment early on…

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  Review by alex ★★★★½

  this was actually really good ??? gwendoline christie is so tall ?? and all of the jokes abt her being tall I live god bless. I love jennifer saunders so much, also joanna lumley looks good in a suit omg

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  Review by Trudes

  I watched this in 2016, when I had never watched the show - which is the most idiotic thing ever. I had yet to discover the TV brilliance of Jennifer Saunders so totally missed all the in-jokes and of course didn't quite get the satire. Well, I've seen every episode of the show multiple times now so I basically have a PhD.

  Speaking of, Saunders was right when she said she won't be doing any more of this, anyone with a brain knows that the characters are meant to be deplorable and that's the whole point, but this is the opposite of politically correct and it seems Saunders and the rest understand that the world doesn't need more of those…