leia131 | I leaped back, like a leaping banana

All right everyone, brace yourselves for my much requested review of the Georgia Nicholson movie: Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging.

Ok, first of all, you may have noticed that they changed the title. This isn't such a big deal, since lots of the books had their titles changed for one reason and another, and the credits informed me that this movie was based on the first two books, so you know, whatever. Also, the movie came out in 2008, at which point all but the last book had been published. So I'm not going to cut the filmmakers a whole lot of slack in regards to not knowing what was coming.

Anyway, let's begin with a list of relatively superficial things that bothered me, from least annoying to most:
-Berets were not part of the school uniform.
-Jools and Mabs were completely absent.
-Robbie was a bassist
-They did the pencil test wrong
-The Bummer twins were actual twins, and apparently friends with Lindsay
-Libby was about 5-6, instead of 2-3. (Though I do understand how working with an older child might have been worth the change).
-Georgia wore camo pants
-Dave was Robbie's mate
-Boys went to Georgia's school
-ROBBIE went to Georgia's school
-JAS DID NOT HAVE FRINGE (I mean, really, we don't get a physical description of many people in these books (besides Georgia) but the ONE THING we know about Jas is that she. has. FRINGE. Although, I will say that the actress playing Jas did a great job fiddling with her other hair, and going off into JasLand.)

The boy things are the real problems though. I mean, half (or more) of the reason behind Georgia's obsession with boys in general and Robbie in particular is that they don't go to school with boys, don't see boys all that often, and Robbie is this older, out of school, unattainable SEX GOD. If he's in her school, he kind of loses all his allure. I'm guessing (based on exactly no hard evidence) that they didn't want to emphasize a romance between a 14 year old girl and an 18 year old boy, but hey, that's what happens in the book, deal with it.

While we're on the subject, Georgia had more interaction with Robbie in 10 minutes of this movie than she did with him in 10 entire books. The whole thing with Robbie is that Georgia isn't able to talk to him, for various reasons, while, by contrast, she really has an accord with Dave the Laugh. It was like the movie makers meshed Robbie with D the L for this movie, even though Dave was also in it, and that was weird.

Also, she ended up with Robbie in the end (which, to be fair, she also does in the first two books) but they randomly threw Dave together with Ellen in the last scene, to make him happy since he got sort of screwed by Georgia. It all felt very forced and dumb, especially since we never saw Ellen show any interest in him before that moment. Georgia's journey through the books to her eventual happy ending with Dave is very well done, very satisfying, and feels very real. This movie had so much of an adherence to the rom com plot (meet boy, screw up relationship in some way, feel bad, apologize, get back together) that they should have just stuck to the first book and left Dave out of it entirely. He was barely in the movie, and they really did his character a disservice. He wasn't a laugh, he was kind of... dorky. Dave is supposed to be cool, and kind of a ladies' man, as well as being a laugh. He's not supposed to be... whatever this is.

Some things I did like: Peter Dwyer's lip shaped pillows, Georgia's appearance, Angus, and Georgia's parents (with her mom's bazoomas hanging out all the time and her dad being somewhat unreasonable). However, her relationship with them was SO WRONG. (I mean, in the books she does love her parents, but she would never SAY that, or beg her dad's boss to let him come back from New Zealand, or go to a party with them (dear God, she would DIE first) where they DANCED (with her no less) in front of all her friends, and ROBBIE.) Oh God, it was so out of character, I think I literally threw up my hands in despair.

The other big out of character thing Georgia did was to purposely let Angus go, so that Robbie would find him and they would get together. Georgia would never EVER do anything that might endanger Angus like that, because she luuurves him. In the book when Angus runs off she is devastated and depressed, and Robbie brings him back of his own accord, not as part of a plot, and it is really sweet. In the movie it was just... stupid.

They also missed a lot of comedy opportunities. Angus and Libby were barely in the movie (despite Angus' name being in the title) and Miss Stamp, the Prat Poodles, and Sven all made on-screen appearances, but with no dialogue or explanation of who they were. If you hadn't read the books, you would have been confused. (Also, how can you not give Sven, of all characters, any lines? How could you waste that opportunity? "I have the bird in the hand and two in the bushes, thank you!") His dancing was amazing though.

Finally, my biggest problem with the movie was Lindsay. In the books, she is always referred to as Wet Lindsay, with a 'wet' being a drippy, useless, nerdy idiot. Lindsay is a prefect, she sucks up to all authority figures, always does her homework on time and you know, is obnoxious. Georgia doesn't like her because she's mean, spreads rumors, abuses her prefect power, and is dating Robbie based on a lot of lies (fake breasts, engagement ring, etc.) In the movie, she was called Slaggy Lindsay and Georgia mostly seemed to dislike her because she was a 'slut'. I mean, I do not hold with slut shaming, and the word 'slag' doesn't appear (to my memory) in any of the books. I really, REALLY did not like that they reduced Lindsay to a stereotypical mean girl 'slut', who, at the climax of the film, burst into Georgia's party and called her names in front of basically the whole school, a whole slew of adults, and Georgia's parents. I gave up on the movie totally at that point, because WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?

And then, at the end, when the movie had abandoned all semblance of sticking to the books, and my eyes hurt from rolling so much, Georgia gave a little speech about how she didn't care about looking perfect anymore, and she how had a boyfriend (Robbie) who liked her just as she was. First of all, movie people, this isn't Bridget Jones, thanks. Secondly, that's a great lesson and all, but Georgia never really learns it. She never stops caring about how she looks, or is satisfied, and yes, she does end up with a boy who likes her just how she is, but it's DAVE not Robbie. Are we not allowed to make a move that doesn't have this 'love yourself just the way you are and find a partner/friend/dog to do so too' message at the end? Because I've heard it before, and not from Georgia.

Georgia's charm largely lies in the fact that she is a stupid teenager, and we all remember being stupid teenagers, and we watch her fail and do stupid things (the same stupid things we did), but ultimately be happy and love herself, even as she never really stops being a stupid teenager. The books are a story that says, "you can been an utterly ridiculous person, and never really learn a family friendly lesson, and still have a good and happy life." The movie... not so much.

Final thought: It wasn't as bad as HBP, since the movie makers had clearly read the book (at least the first two) but it wasn't good either. Skip it, and read the books instead.

ETA: This quote from Louise Rennison's website pretty much proves my points (bolding by me): "The main character Georgia is really based on my experiences of when I was fourteen. I wrote the book to make myself laugh. I always wrote what I remembered making me laugh when I was that age. I didn't attempt to teach. I didn't attempt to do anything except I wanted Georgia to be a decent person. I wanted her to be someone who is a bit stupid and self-obsessed and difficult and funny and rude, and a bit jealous and all those other things. But I wanted her to have a good heart. "