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'St Trinian's [2007]' starring Rupert Everett and directed by Oliver Parker. (StaEAN 5017239195570)

To some extent, the team behind the revival of St. Trinian’s were on a bit of a hiding to nothing. The old films, contextualised by a far different age, were knockabout, energetic, yet innocent comedies about the antics of a boisterous girls’ school and its inhabitants. Surprisingly though, the remake--again inspired by the Ronald Searle cartoons--manages to sidestep the bulk of the obstacles in its path, and proves itself as a likeable, entertaining comedy.

The plot of St. Trinian’s is as paper-thin as you’d expect, and serves merely as a platform for the anarchic actions of the cast of characters (some hokum about stealing a picture and saving the school). And a mischievous lot they prove to be: while they don’t quite live up to the memories of the generation of St. Trinian’s students before them, the primarily young cast still attack their roles with tremendous, and infectious, gusto.

And leading the cast is Rupert Everett, in an entertaining duel role at St. Trinian’s headmistress Miss Frinton and her brother, Carnaby. Joined by Colin Firth, he’s clearly having a whale of a time, and his casting process a wise decision. It’s great to see the always-wonderful Celia Imrie in there, too.

St Trinian’s, as you’d expect, has plenty of problems, notably a script that relies too much on the charm of its cast to pull it through. But heck, it’s still fun, and a hard film not to enjoy. It won’t win Oscars, but it will put a grin on your face. --Jon Foster

What a riot this is! I was hesitant at first, largely because I tend to get my knickers in a knot over modern teenagers (chavs? emos? huh?) but I want to be one NOW! I always wanted to go to boarding school (too much Enid Blyton as a child) but who needs Malory Towers? It's got a great soundtrack, the girls look fantastic, there's a strong message of solidarity and Rupert Everett always makes me laugh. This will become one of my must-sees on horrid winter evenings or when I'm in need of a boost. If only we'd sung a school song along those lines - we'd certainly have sung a lot louder! Watch this. It's great.

This 2007 remake of "The Belles of St Trinians" is sexist, backward looking, amoral, and an open celebration of the silliest kind of "Girl Power" ladette culture. It is also one of the funniest and most entertaining films I've seen in the past couple of years.

Like the original, it tells the story of a horrible girl's school where the pupils are impossibly naughty and the teachers not much better: facing bankruptcy, they turn to the idea of stealing something famous and valuable to get the reward by returning it (a racehorse in the original, Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" in this version.)

The basic concept and humour is pretty close to the spirit of the original, set in a 21st century setting, although the humour is more "in your face" and less subtle, and there is a greater range of characters represented by the girls, from "geeks" who are expert computer hackers to "goths" and "EMOs".

In the first film the pupils do not appear on screen for several minutes during which the action gradually built up expectations that the girls of St Trinian's were terrifying and dangerous, long before you actually saw the first gymnslip. For example, it showed scenes with the citizens of the local town boarding up their shops and the local bobby locking himself in his own cell as soon as they hear that term is about to start. By contrast the 2007 film begins with a new girl (Tallulah Riley) arriving at the St Trinians and being shown round by the head girl (Gemma Arterton), an introduction which soon makes dramatically obvious that this is not a normal school.

One area in which this film does manage to be more sophisticated than the fifties and sixties originals is the development of the characters of the schoolgirls themselves. In the original the sixth-formers were presented as two-dimensional scheming minxes, and the fourth-formers and below as a destructive force of nature, with the most amusing roles written for the adults. In the 2007 film more of the focus is on the girls themselves.

Many of the ideas and adult characters are a complete lift from "The Belles of St Trinians" and the other three original films.

The Alistair Sim double role as both the St Trinian's Headmistress, Miss Fritton, and her corrupt brother Carnaby Fritton, is played by Rupert Everitt. He carries it off nearly as well as Alistair Sim did, which is saying a lot.

The George Cole role, as local spiv "Flash Harry" is taken by Russell Brand, who basically plays it as his usual TV persona. Fortunately this works. Also playing himself is Stephen Fry as the quizmaster of the "Top-of-the-form" style quiz, "Schools challenge."

Lena Headey, (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) shows her adaptability by playing a fussy middle-class, conventional teacher, fairly similar to the Joyce Grenfell role in the original films, although the 2007 character is not an undercover policewoman. For me there was considerable extra amusement value from watching this because of the contrast with Lena's current TV role: her character in this film is far more easily terrorised by little girls than her "Sarah Connor" character is by lethal "Terminator" killer robots.

Colin Firth plays the Schools Minister who is determined to clear up bad schools, starting with St Trinians, but who comes off worst. Firth is an excellent piece of casting, particularly in making some rather painful and humiliating "accidents" at the hands of the St Trinian's girls look real and amusing.

The infamous Hockey match scene from "The Belles of St Trinians" is re-created, and this is another area where the film actually improves a little on the original. In the 1950's, the idea of presenting a girl's hockey team as dangerous psychopaths was novel, so the 1954 film could get away with presenting the rival school headteacher as an utterly upright and conventional woman, the rival team as ordinary and well-behaved, strongly hinting without being too explicit that the vistors get beaten up and hospitalised with no justification whatsoever, and it was funny because it was outrageous.

In the 21st century, where violence in sport is sadly neither unusual or a taboo subject, the film makers had to be cleverer to make the film funny without completely losing the sympathy of the audience. So instead of making St Trinians psychopaths and the visitors harmless and innocent victims, they made the captain of the visiting team (who also happens to be the School's minister's daughter) a dangerous bully, and the visiting Headmistress (played by Anna Chancellor) a hypocrite who is quite willing to turn a Nelsonian blind eye to aggression from her own side providing it is made to look like an accident.

So this time it is the visting "Cheltenham Ladies" who rashly start the rough stuff - but boy, do St Trinian's finish it.

Other performers who put in some excellent acting include supermodel (and real-life Cambridge undergraduate) Lily Cole as the leader of the "Geeks", Celia Imrie as the school's Matron and Toby Jones as the hapless bursar, and Jodie Whitaker as the spaced-out school secretary and receptionist.

Antonia Bernath, Tamsin Egerton, and Amara Khan are the St Trinian's team in the "schools challenge" competition, Mischa Barton, and Kathryn Drysdale also appear.

The film finishes with a disco in which the singing group "Girls Aloud" dressed as schoolgirls and obviously enjoying themselves are singing an updated version of the St Trinian's anthem while most of the cast dance to it. An extended version of this song is one of the extras, and I have to confess that I have found some of this running through my head since watching the film ...

"Scam all the toffs, the neats and the freaks
Blackmail the goths, the slappers and the geeks
And if they complain, we'll do it all again
We do as we damn well please!

ASBO the chavs, the EMOs and their mates
To torment the slags, we offer special rates,
And if they complain, we'll do it all again
Defenders of Anarchy.

(Chorus)
Check out our battle cry,
A song to terrify,
No one can stand in our way .....

I cannot pretend that this is a great work of art, and the "12" certificate is justified if not a little too liberal. This film should not be shown to anyone who isn't old enough to understand that the values the film appears to espouse, including glamorising crime and violence, and overt displays of sexuality by schoolgirls, are being satirised, not supported.

Nevertheless it is highly entertaining.

This film is fun and well-made, with some excellent performances, notably from Rupert Everett and Colin Firth, but its ultimate failure is down more to the times in which we live than the film itself. The original St Trinians celebrated anarchy in a repressed world, but these days it is hard to find anything funny in the idea of schoolgirl violence, because it is a commonplace reality. Ronald Searle's cartoons of children distilling gin were hilarious - but who finds it funny now that children sell drugs, or 'moonshine' so strong it kills people? The producers have done their best to tackle this problem, and tried to keep their violent stars the 'underdogs' by depicting the 'rich girls' school' as even more violent and prone to bullying, but it doesn't quite come off. In fairness, I am middle -aged, and younger people might enjoy this a lot more than I did. There is a genuine attempt to create a moral 'core', in that the suggestions of one schoolgirl to raise money by kidnapping and mutilating a rich person are dismissed as 'sick', and also one slightly unconvincing effort to be uplifting, by having a message that the pursuit of celebrity is less important than fulfilling one's own potential.
Otherwise, it's colourful, tense in the right places, funny in others, and IF YOU CAN FORGET THE REAL WORLD AROUND YOU it's an enjoyable night in.

Having seen and enjoyed the old series of films I suppose I was spoil with great actors and actresses and expected to be entertained by the new film the same. I was really disappointed with it, i found the acting less than satisfactory and also wooden in places. I tried to stick with it and give it a chance but got so bored after 30 minuets of it I turned it off and gave the DVD away. I am sure some will like it though who have not seen and enjoyed the originals.

Annabelle Fritton (Riley) is sent to one of the worst all girl schools in the country, which is on the verge of being shutdown.

Having a lot of respect for British cinema, and being very patriotic, I am almost disgusted by how this film appears.

Gone is the genius and controversy of Trainspotting. The political correctness of Brassed off has disappeared, and we are left with a predictable, unrealistic and a sad excuse for a British film in a dreadful unfunny story about an all girl's school.

Though I'm not a massive fan, Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice) and Rupert Everett (A Midsummer Night's dream) should have carried this film, but gave poor performances in what are two very confusing characters with a bizarre history that is never properly explained. And the supporting cast are all just boring, with no humour and predictability written over their faces. I'm not a fan, but Russell Brand was the best thing about this film, which says a lot when sophisticated actors like Firth can't even match Brand.

The plot is boring and all over the place with bizarre visuals and pauses. One of the least funny "comedies" I have seen, with perhaps only 3 or 4 laugh out loud moments during the whole 97 minutes. Predictable and way too modern, with jokes about current celebrities and TV shows, I mean how will this appeal to people in 20 years? They won't know what is going on. It is a film that has been made for the current media.

The acting is poor, and the plot is always predictable. However there were a few surprises in store and is sometimes interesting.

The plot could was all over the place. Started off focusing on the girl who was arriving, then she was lost half way through as it went all political. Then there was a brief introduction of modern day stereotypes, and why that wasn't further developed I will never know. Audiences need a true gritty story about a stereotype. And then this awkward last ditch unrealistic chance to save the school, and was just not what I expected at all and if you're looking for a good teenage comedy, try Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Euro Trip, as St Trinian's is poor, predictable and quite frankly, the worst British film I have ever seen.

3/10