Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film is based on two popular teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. It is a coming of age story, following fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicolson, played by Georgia Groome as she tries to get a boyfriend and throw the greatest fifteenth birthday party ever, while trying to keep her parents (Alan Davies and Karen Taylor) happy.
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is set in Eastbourne, a coastal town in England; it was filmed there and in Brighton, with interior work filmed at Ealing Studios, London.[2] The film was released on 25 July 2008 in the UK, where it is rated 12A for moderate language and sex references.
Plot
On the first day of the school year Georgia and her friends, Jas (Eleanor Tomlinson), Ellen (Manjeeven Grewal) and Rosie (Georgia Henshaw) spot two new brothers that have just moved to Eastbourne from London. Fraternal twins Robbie (Aaron Johnson) and Tom (Sean Bourke). The girls follow the boys, who are exploring Eastbourne with their friend Dave "the Laugh" (Tommy Bastow).
Georgia then hatches a plan to get close to Robbie. Realising that Robbie likes cats she pretends her cat, Angus, has gone missing. Jas has Angus on a leash, but he escapes and Tom rescues him. Jas and Tom begin dating while Robbie is seeing Georgia's rival - Lindsay.
In the midst of all this, Georgia's father has been offered a job in New Zealand, and he goes to New Zealand to prepare for the family to move out with him. During his absence, Georgia's mum hires a handsome builder called Jem to re-do the living room, and begins to spend increasingly longer periods of time with him, making Georgia worried as to the state of her parents marriage.
In an attempt to "grow up" for Robbie, Georgia then goes to have "snogging lessons" with Peter Dyer (Liam Hess). He becomes infatuated with her and at a party the following night, he tries to kiss her, causing her to fall in to a bush and expose her underwear to Robbie, Lindsay, Jas and Tom, who see her on the ground with Peter. In order to get away from Peter, Georgia tells him that she is a lesbian. Tom invites Jas to go swimming with him and Robbie. Georgia conspires to meet them at the pool and brings her sister along as she is stuck babysitting her. While in the pool Robbie and Georgia kiss. Robbie then leaves, claiming that he has to "sort some things out" but that he will phone Georgia later.
A few weeks later Georgia asks Dave the laugh to a gig for Robbie's band, the Stiff Dylans. After reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus Georgia hatches a plan to make Robbie to realize his feelings for her by going to the gig with Dave the Laugh. Robbie tries to talk to Georgia at the gig, but is stopped by Lindsay.
At school, Dave finds out that Georgia was only using him to make Robbie jealous and so stops talking to her. When Dave tells Robbie that Georgia was only using him, he stops talking to her as well. When she finds out it was Jas that leaked this information, they have an argument, and they vow never to speak to each other again.
Feeling like there is no point in staying in England, Georgia decides that she would like to move to New Zealand. Before she leaves she goes to the beach for a walk knowing Robbie would be there and apologizes to him. Robbie tells her that he dumped Lindsay and he admits that he still likes her.
In the end Georgia's mum takes her to a club for the first time and it turns out to be a surprise fifteenth birthday party, which Jas had secretly organized with Georgia's mum. She is greeted by all her friends and her family, with Jas and Georgia befriending each other again. As a surprise, Georgia's father returns from New Zealand, deciding to stay in Eastbourne for a better job opportunity. It is also revealed that Jem is gay, and that his boyfriend is the owner of the nightclub. The Stiff Dylans are performing the song "Ultraviolet" which Robbie had written about Georgia, when they are interrupted by Lindsay who had come from her own party (to which no-one had turned up) and tells Robbie that he would either have to take her back or lose her forever. He tells her that Georgia is the one he wants, and he kisses Georgia on-stage.
Cast
Production
Chadha was originally brought into the project as a scriptwriter:[4]
- When the project came to me, the studio, Paramount, had had it for five years and even though they're British books they had these two American guys adapt the book and they couldn't get it to work. I read the script and thought how weird, this is a sort of LA male's version of an English girl's childhood and then I read the books and I thought wow, there is something here that relates to me growing up that I hadn't seen in the script. I thought this could be a British genre film or be like Clueless or Mean Girls in England and I liked the idea of doing a British version of those films. Then it clicked that it should be like Sixteen Candles.
Most of the scenes were filmed on location in Brighton and Eastbourne.[2] Others, such as the gig scene, as well as some interiors and exteriors for Georgia's house, were filmed in and around Ealing Studios, London. Areas in nearby Middlesex were used as well, such as Bishopshalt school in Hillingdon and the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge.[5] Other sites include locations in Teddington and Twickenham.
Reception
The film garnered mainly positive reviews, with critics noting the strong central performance of Georgia Groome, who has been praised for her "super-engaging"[6] and "endearingly natural"[7] performance. The film was in the top 40 in the UK and Ireland and Malta 2008 box office.[8]
References
External links
