The Festival

From the makers of The Inbetweeners comes another welcome gross-out comedy.

Joe Thomas

Having conquered British television and the UK film industry with three series of The Inbetweeners, plus two movies, the parents of these juvenile jape fests go one step further in their efforts to offend our sensibilities with more of the same, only this time one of The Inbetweeners heroes has just graduated from university. Although actor Joe Thomas’s character in The Festival is called Nick Taylor, he is essentially still Simon Cooper, the innocent schoolboy from The Inbetweeners. As he leaves uni, Nick is dumped by his girlfriend Caitlin (Hannah Tointon), and there’s a whole lot more dumping to come when Nick’s best mate Shane (Hammed Animashaun) suggests they go off to a music festival for a weekend of drugs, booze and rock’n’roll. However, it turns out instead to be more mud, blood and other bodily fluids flying in all directions.

Far from it taking his mind off his ex-girlfriend, Nick’s nose is well and truly rubbed in the mud because Caitlin turns up with her posh friends in tow. There follows a litany of misguided escapades in which Nick gets his nipple pierced, becomes involved with a goat courtesy of some Druids, is chased through the festival dressed only in his Y-fronts and spends a drug-fuelled night with a girl disguised as a Smurf (Emma Rigby). Following on from his abandoned nude appearances as an ‘Inbetweener’ actor, Joe Thomas is still not shy of exposing himself in one way or another. Apparently, the BBFC asked for some cuts to the most outrageous scenes – otherwise the film might have earned an 18 certificate. We await the eventual director’s version.

Well, it’s all good clean dirty fun and it could well be the start of another continuing franchise as Nick takes to the road as in Voltaire’s Candide, but here he’s in the worst of all possible worlds. It may be gross but for a British comedy The Festival is hilariously funny.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Cast: Joe Thomas, Hammed Animashaun, Claudia O’Doherty, Jemaine Clement, Emma Rigby, Hannah Tointon, Noel Fielding, Nick Frost, Theo Barklam-Biggs, Kurt Yaeger.

Dir Iain Morris, Pro Claire Jones, Screenplay Keith Akushie and Joe Parham, Ph Simon Tindall, Pro Des Amanda McArthur, Ed Charlie Fawcett and William Webb, Music Supervisor Simon Astall, Costumes Claire Finlay.

Fudge Park Productions-Entertainment One.
98 mins. UK. 2018. Rel: 14 August 2018. Cert. 15.