Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie review

As fizzy as Eddy and Patsy’s Bollinger tipple, this long-awaited big-screen outing for the bungling fashion victims is a brash, flash and jolly romp. Writer/star Jennifer Saunders nimbly steers the dissipated duo into a slapstick set-up, where a desperate Eddy is charged with accidentally killing Kate Moss, and flees to Cannes with fellow outlaw Patsy.

Deft at mocking the Twitterati, as Ab Fab was at nailing the ’90s, the film mercilessly pillories today’s media mourning frenzies, while letting its heroines bitch, booze and blunder their way in search of the Riviera high life. Crammed with celeb-cameos, from Jon Hamm (telling Patsy, “You took my virginity, leave me my sanity!”) to Rebel Wilson’s Taser-wielding air stewardess, the film’s healthy cynicism and director Mandie Fletcher’s rollicking pace help it dodge Zoolander 2 self-parody.

Though it feels obliged to insert Big Issues (fear of ageing, a chain of mother-daughter clashes), it’s the scrappy, sarcastic set pieces (and a nifty Some Like It Hot lift) that give it a fun feel. Since the plot is thinner than any of the many supermodels draped around it, give thanks for Joanna Lumley’s coke-snorting, gold-digging Patsy, whose heartless antics and peerless comic timing keep it all aloft.