Absolutely Fabulous Movie Reviews Are In... And They're Pretty Good

Break open the Bolly, the reviews for the ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ movie are in, and so far they’re really rather glowing.

Like a beacon in the post-Brexit gloom, Eddie and Pats appear to have pulled off bringing the veteran BBC sitcom to the big screen, a full 13 years after its last proper series.

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“It’s impossible to watch Joanna Lumley’s pursed-lip expression of disdain and suppressed nausea without laughing and the same goes for Saunders’s childlike pout of dismay and incomprehension,” writes Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.

“Basically, Joanna Lumley saves this film: she has an imperishable hauteur and comedy-charisma. She is the garden bridge that stops this film from collapsing into the Thames. You don’t need silly cameos when you’ve got Lumley.”

Guy Lodge in Variety adds: “This short, bright, lovably shambolic outing does all that with Bollinger-soaked one-liners to spare. It’s not great cinema, or even peak 'Fabulous’, but for a post-Brexit Britain in dire need of some cheering up, it more than does the job.”

On The Wrap, Jason Solomons describes it as 'probably one of the best 'Carry On’ movies never made’.

“Tumbleweed moments are mercifully few which, considering the flimsiness of the premise and the woodenness of some of the contributors, is quite an achievement,” he adds.

“Edina and Patsy are movie stars now, darlings, cementing their place as national treasures — hell, they could run for Parliament right now and romp home. I wish they would.”

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin says: “Stuffed to its statement earrings with celebrities, fashion folk and comedian chums making cameos, this breezy blast of bawdy jokes and Bollinger product placement should lift spirits in a post-Brexit Britain and earn a considerable pile of devalued sterling along the way.

“There are gorgeous drag artists in the Vauxhall Tavern weeping as Edina’s daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha) sings Janis Ian’s 'At Seventeen’, Jon Hamm (playing himself) confessing he lost his virginity to Patsy and Joan Collins in a series of picture hats. What’s not to love?”

It’s out across the UK on July 1.

Image credits: Fox