Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

BBC Fans Will Find “Absolutely Fabulous” Absolutely Fabulous

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Fans of “Ab Fab” rejoice. The much beloved ‘90s British telly series is coming to the big screen.

For those who don’t watch BBC, I’m referring to “Absolutely Fabulous,” a sitcom about Edna Moonsoon, a heavy-drinking PR agent, and her gal pal Patsy Stone, a magazine editor whose blowsy antics are equally self-destructive. The two middle-aged fashionistas are always pursuing bizarre fads designed to keep them young and “with it” in an ageist culture.

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley star as this pair of loonies. It’s based on a comedy sketch created by Saunders and Dawn French, two comedians who met at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and discovered they shared a best friend. Their French & Saunders act morphed into the TV show.

“Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” is currently making people laugh at Tropic Cinema. All Anglophiles will want to catch it.

In the movie version, Edna’s PR firm is about to go under, but when Patsy informs her that Kate Moss is looking for a new publicist, the gals go racing off to pitch the supermodel at a fashion show. Unfortunately in her haste, Edna knocks Moss over a balcony into the Thames. She is presumed to have drowned.

If that weren’t bad enough, while searching the river for the body, they supposedly kill Bubble, Edna’s personal assistant, in the process. So they flee to Cannes, taking along Eddy’s granddaughter Lola, so they can use her credit card.

Deciding they could get used to living a high life of glitz and glamour on the French Riviera, Patsy disguises herself as a man and marries the Richest Woman in the World. Next thing you know, the police are chasing them through the streets, the duo attempting to escape in a small, three-wheeled, fish-market van.

All turns out well, of course, but you might be able to laugh a little more freely if the recent tragedy of that truck rampaging through crowds along Nice’s promenade didn’t sour the comedy of a street chase in the South of France.

Nevertheless, take heart in the continuing misadventures of those fabulous Ab Fab gals. The film is populated with plenty of guest stars, ranging from Jon Hamm and Joan Collins to Dame Edna and Jerry Hall to Jean Paul Gautier and Stella McCartney. And the aforementioned Kate Moss, who manages to survive the contretemps. Plus more than 90 drag queens saucily parade through the movie.

Jennifer Saunders says she wrote the script on a £100,000 bet with her old comedy partner Dawn French. She says she couldn’t afford to lose that much money on a bet. This was before Brexit, when £100,000 was £100,000.

srhoades@aol.com