ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE (Mandie Fletcher). 91 minutes. Opens Friday (July 22). See listing. Rating: NN
Predating Sex And The City, the long-running BBC show Absolutely Fabulous parodied the very things Sarah Jessica Parker and her troupe of fashionistas held dear. More than two decades after their show premiered, Jennifer Saunders’s shallow, klutzy and lewd PR woman, Edina, and her ever-inebriated BFF, Patsy (Joanna Lumley), have their own movie, one that absolutely relies on fans’ familiarity and goodwill.
Newcomers won’t be able to make heads or tails of the insular, rarefied fashion world that Edina pratfalls through.
Now pushing 60, she sees an opportunity to revive her flailing career when Kate Moss starts looking for new representation. Her bumbling attempt at landing the model ends with Moss floating down the Thames, triggering an international scandal and sending Edina and Patsy on the run.
It’s shamelessly silly stuff, and every so often a harmless joke hits the mark, but more often the material feels old.
Not the characters, mind you. Their dated mentality is a welcome way to look at an era when Pokémon Go can thwart your best-laid viral marketing plans. But the movie doesn’t seize its opportunities, barely attempting to skewer what fashion and social media have become, because it’s much more comfortable with stuff that worked in the past.
