Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging directed by Gurinder Chadha

Paramount (2008)

ASIN: B0031P6X3E
100 minutes

PG-13

Viewing Level: Ages 13 and up.

 Summary:

Fourteen-year-old Georgia has a close-knit group of friends that discusses everything from parents and boys to growing up. Even with her parents in tumult—Dad has gone to New Zealand for a job and Mum has been getting cozy with the interior decorator—Georgia embarks on the quest to attain a beautiful “sex god” as her boyfriend and to get her parents to throw her a grand-scale birthday party at a club, like all the other girls have. When Tom and Robbie move to town, Georgia and her friend, Jas, know they have to have them for their own, even if other girls have their eye on them as well. Hilarity ensues as Georgia tries to snag Robbie’s attention in a wide variety of ways that always end up embarrassing her. Pretending her cat, Angus, has taken to paying for “snogging” lessons, nothing but outright humiliation will stop Georgia from getting the boy of her dreams.

Critical Evaluation:

The overall lesson in this fun and light-hearted romp of a film is to be true to oneself. Georgia does everything she can think of to land the boy of her dreams. From pretending she loves organic vegetables and fruit to making sure she throws the best party at the best club, she’ll do anything to impress Robbie. However, when Georgia uses Robbie’s friend, Dave, to make Robbie jealous, it backfires on her. Dave thought that Georgia truly liked him, for he had a crush on her, too. His hurt and devastation at her act when he finds out not only makes him dislike Georgia immensely, but Robbie also asks her why she used his friend that way. Eventually, Georgia matures throughout the film. She begins as a spoiled little girl who doesn’t want to move because she might get a date and matures into a young woman who is willing to move or do whatever she has to do in order to keep her family together and is crushed when she finally realizes what she has done to Dave and how she must appear to Robbie. Of course, this being a light-hearted romantic comedy, it all ends quite well, but it’s nice
to see a narrative arc and character development along the way.

Reader’s Annotation:

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m a woman now. I wear a bra!” Georgia Nicolson’s coming of age tale
is filled with thongs, snogs, and a sex-god named Robbie.

Author Biography:

Gurinder Chadha is the director, co-screenwriter, and producer of this film. Chadha began as a BBC news reporter and directed award-winning documentaries for the BBC. Her first feature, Bhaji on the Beach, won many awards including a BAFTA nomination for best British film of 1994. Her film,
Bend it like Beckham, is “the highest grossing British-financed, British distributed film ever in UK box office history” (Retrieved from http://www.angusthongsmovie.com/intl/uk/). Other films include
Bride & Prejudice, which combines Jane Austen with Indian and Western musicals and “was the
first film ever to open at number one in the UK and India on the same day.” (Retrieved from http://www.angusthongsmovie.com/intl/uk/). I look forward to seeing more films from this dynamic filmmaker.

This film is based on the series Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison. The author
lives in San Francisco, but bases much of these novels on her childhood in Leeds. She is a writer and performer of one-woman shows such as Stevie Wonder Felt My Face, Bob Marley's Gardener Sold My Friend and Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head. She tells her fans that her research for her young-adult novels includes a lot of time with teens which she says is, "Brilliant - the best fun known to humanity. It's all boys, make-up, laughing and, er, that's it.” (Retrieved from http://www.georgianicolson.com/meet.html)

Genre: Comedy - Coming of age.

Curriculum Ties:

N/A, this is for pure enjoyment.

Booktalking Ideas:

-Georgia concocts schemes to get Robbie’s attention.
Is this necessary or should she have been herself from the start?

-Although Lindsay is portrayed as a horrid character,
does she earn any sympathy by the end?

Read-Alikes/ View-Alikes:

Films:
-Clueless directed by Amy Heckerling.
-Mean Girls directed by Mark Waters.
-Bend it like Beckham directed by Gurinder Chadha.

Books:
-The series Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison,
which this film is based on.
-The Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar.

Challenge Issue:

There is talk of “snogging” and some sexual overtones, but the film is very tame and very much
stays true to its PG-13 standing. There’s some show of thongs, but no one is ever naked, and it’s
all very comedic.

Reason to include in blog:

I work in subtitling, and I remember working on this film for DVD last year and found it fun and charming. When I realized that it’s based on a series of books about a high school girl and her friends, I thought it might be appropriate to add to the blog. Most of the other films I have chosen to include are a bit heavy, so I thought I’d pick one that’s enjoyable and endearing.

 

References:

Chadha, G. (Director, Producer). (2008). Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

[Motion picture]. United States: Paramount.

 

Crew biographies. (n.d.) In Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

     Retrieved from http://www.angusthongsmovie.com/intl/uk/

Rennison, L. (2006) The official Georgia Nicolson website.
     Retrieved from http://www.georgianicolson.com/meet.html

Trailer: