St. Trinian's 2007

Taking higher education to a new low.

5.9 / 10   440 vote(s)
PG-13
Comedy Family Science Fiction

When their beloved school is threatened with closure should the powers that be fail to raise the proper funds, the girls scheme to steal a priceless painting and use the profits to pull St. Trinian's out of the red.

Release Date 2007-12-21
Runtime 1h 41m
Directors Barnaby Thompson, Gavin Finney, Oliver Parker
Producers Rupert Everett, James Spring, Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson, Mark Hubbard, Nigel Green
Writers Piers Ashworth, Nick Moorcroft

Ooh err missus.

When it was announced that there was to be a modern reboot of St. Trinian’s, it was met with luke warm murmurings to say the least. Yet when it comes down to it, the old films from the 50s and 60s were hardly comedy gold anyway. Safe family fare and sometimes fun into the bargain, and with strong casts, they have never been seen as essential British comedies and untouchable by the modern era’s obsession with remakes and reimaging.

St. Trinian’s 2007 style is not an improvement on the oldies, but neither is it the stinker some critics in 2007 wanted us to believe. It has enough about it to be its own animal, it’s funny, sexy and never dull. This also benefits from strong comic casting, where the likes of Rupert Everett (having the time of his life in drag), Colin Firth and Russell Brand are pitched into the femme madness headed by Gemma Arterton and Tallulah Riley. The writers err on the side of caution as far as risqué material goes, but there’s some very strong gags played out and the grouping of the girls into the various cliques (Emos, Chavs etc) is a nifty bit of writing that is mined to good effect.

It was good enough and successful enough to warrant a sequel 2 years later… 6.5/10

John Chard