Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Directed by	Gurinder Chadha
Produced by	Scott Aversano Lynda Obest Gurinder Chadha Michelle Fox
Written by	Louise Rennison (novel) Paul Mayeda Berges Gurinder Chadha Will McRobb Chris Viscardi
Starring	Georgia Groome Eleanor Tomlinson Aaron Johnson Alan Davies Karen Taylor Sean Bourke Liam Hess Kimberley Nixon Tommy Bastow Manjeeven Grewal Georgia Henshaw Stiff Dylans
Music by	Joby Talbot
Cinematography	Dick Pope
Editing by	Martin Walsh Justin Krish
Studio	Nickelodeon Movies
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	25 July 2008 (2008-07-25) (UK) 12 March 2009 (US)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States Australia
Language	English
Budget	About $1 million
Box office	$13,835,569

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British coming of age film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha starring Georgia Groome. It is based on two teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. The film follows fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicholson (Groome) as she tries to find a boyfriend and throw her fifteenth birthday party. It is the first and only Nickelodeon Movies feature to receive a PG-13 rating.

Plot

On the first day of the school year Georgia (Georgia Groome) and her friends, Jas (Eleanor Tomlinson), Ellen (Manjeeven Grewal) and Rosie (Georgia Henshaw) spot two new brothers, Robbie (Aaron Johnson) and Tom (Sean Bourke), that have just moved to Eastbourne from London. The girls follow the boys, who are exploring Eastbourne with their friend Dave "the Laugh" (Tommy Bastow).

Georgia then hatches a plan to get close to Robbie. Realising that Robbie likes cats she pretends that her cat, Angus, has gone missing. Jas has Angus on a leash, but he escapes and Tom rescues him. Jas and Tom begin dating while Robbie is seeing Georgia's rival - Lindsay.

In the midst of all this, Georgia's father has been offered a job in New Zealand, and he goes there to prepare for the family to move out with him. During his absence, Georgia's mum hires a handsome builder called Jem to re-do the living room, and begins to spend increasingly longer periods of time with him, making Georgia worry about the state of her parents' marriage.

Tom invites Jas to go swimming with him and Robbie. Georgia conspires to meet them at the pool and brings her sister along as she is stuck babysitting her. She tries to impress Robbie by doing a handstand, but her legs, which she had covered in orange spray tan, show and when she explains it to Robbie he laughs. After that Robbie and Georgia kiss. Robbie then leaves, claiming that he has to "sort some things out" but that he will phone Georgia later.

In an attempt to "grow up" for Robbie, Georgia had a "snogging lesson" with Peter Dyer (Liam Hess). He becomes infatuated with her and at a party the following night, he tries to kiss her, causing her to fall in to a bush and expose her underwear to Robbie, Lindsay, Jas and Tom, who see her on the ground with Peter. In order to get away from Peter, Georgia tells him that she is a lesbian.

A few weeks later Dave "the Laugh" invites Georgia to a gig for Robbie's band, the Stiff Dylans. After reading Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Georgia hatches a plan to make Robbie realise his feelings for her by going to the gig with Dave "the Laugh". Robbie tries to talk to Georgia at the gig, but is stopped by Lindsay.

At school, Dave finds out that Georgia was only using him to make Robbie jealous and stops talking to her. When Dave tells Robbie that Georgia was only using him, Robbie stops talking to her as well. When she finds out that it was Jas who leaked this information, they have an argument and vow to never to speak to each other again. Georgia then kicks Jas on the leg as an act of anger and claims that Tom is not good enough for her. As Jas leaks this information again Robbie comes infuriated and tells her that she shouldn't have used Dave and that he really likes her. He also tells her that if his brother's not good enough for Jas, then maybe he is not for Georgia and storms off.

With her best friend and Robbie mad at her, she feels like there is no point in staying in England. Georgia decides that she would like to move to New Zealand. Before she leaves she goes to the beach for a walk knowing that Robbie would be there and apologises to him. Robbie tells Georgia that he made a song for her called 'Bitch In A Uniform' and after a while of talking Robbie tells her that he dumped Lindsay and he admits that he still likes Georgia.

In the end, Georgia's mother takes her to a club for the first time and it turns out to be a surprise fifteenth birthday party, which Jas had secretly organised with Georgia's mum. She is greeted by all her friends and her family, with Jas and Georgia befriending each other again. As a surprise, Georgia's father (Alan Davies) returns from New Zealand, deciding to stay in Eastbourne for a better job opportunity. It is also revealed that Jem is gay, and that his boyfriend is the owner of the nightclub which delights Georgia as he can't have a relationship with her mother. The Stiff Dylans are performing the song "Ultraviolet" which Robbie had written about Georgia, when they are interrupted by Lindsay who had come from her own party (to which no-one had turned up) and tells Robbie that he would either take her back or lose her forever. Robbie chooses Georgia and calls her a "perfect nutter", Georgia's best mates walk on stage and humiliate Lindsay by revealing that her much admired large breasts are actually fake. Robbie tells her that Georgia is the one he wants and he kisses Georgia on-stage.

At the very end, Georgia confesses no need for changes to herself and walks to school arm in arm with Robbie.

Cast

• Georgia Groome as Georgia Nicolson: She is the main lead of the movie. A 14 (15 year-old at the end) girl who is in love with Robbie and tries to get him to be her boyfriend throughout the film.
• Aaron Johnson as Robbie: He is Georgia's love interest, he's in a band called The Stiff Dylans. Robbie is known as a sex god. He is Lindsay's boyfriend.
• Karen Taylor as Connie Nicolson: She is Georgia's mum and is a bit old-fashioned. She scares Georgia as it seems she was getting very close to Jem. She also attempts to maintains a close relationship with her daughter in the movie during Georgia's teenager years.
• Alan Davies as Bob Nicolson: He is Georgia's dad and he too is a bit old fashioned. He does not allow Georgia to have a party in a club for her birthday but he is over all very nice. He gets a job opportunity to go to New Zealand.
• Eleanor Tomlinson as Jas: She is Georgia's best friend and is very girlish in understanding and wants to get a boyfriend just like Georgia. Nevertheless, she worries about her lack of breasts. She starts to date Tom, Robbie's fraternal twin brother.
• Manjeeven Grewal as Ellen: She is also Georgia's friend and is in 'The Ace gang' along with Georgia, Jas and Rosie. She is the vulnerable one of the group.
• Georgia Henshaw as Rosie: She is Georgia's friend and she too belongs in 'The Ace gang’. She is seen as the experienced one of the group because she already has a boyfriend.
• Kimberley Nixon as Lindsay: She is Georgia's rival and main antagonist of the film. She is slim and very good looking but she is a complete bully to Georgia. She is seen as 'the slag of the century'.
• Sean Bourke as Tom: He is Robbie's brother and Jas' boyfriend.
• Tommy Bastow as Dave The Laugh: Georgia uses him to make Robbie jealous which makes him feel very hurt. Dave is one of Robbie's best friends.
• Liam Hess as Peter Dyer: (Saliva Boy) He likes Georgia a lot though the feeling is not mutual. He gives girls lessons on how to snog.
• Matt Brinkler as Sven: Rosie's crazy boyfriend, an exchange student from Sweden.
• Eva Drew as Libby: She is Georgia's 3-year-old sister but is very eccentric.
• Steve Jones as Jem: He is constructing a room in Georgia's house and Georgia thinks her mother is falling for him.
• Stiff Dylans as themselves (with the extension of Robbie).

Production

Chadha was originally brought into the project as a scriptwriter:

When the project came to me, the studio, Paramount, had had it for five years and even though they're British books they had these two American guys adapt the book and they couldn't get it to work. I read the script and thought how weird, this is a sort of LA male's version of an English girl's childhood and then I read the books and I thought wow, there is something here that relates to me growing up that I hadn't seen in the script. I thought this could be a British genre film or be like Clueless or Mean Girls in England and I liked the idea of doing a British version of those films. Then it clicked that it should be like Sixteen Candles.

Most of the scenes were filmed on location in Brighton and Eastbourne. Others, such as the gig scene and some interiors and exteriors for Georgia's house, were filmed in and around Ealing Studios, London. Areas in nearby Middlesex like Bishopshalt school in Hillingdon and the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge were used as well. Other sites include locations in Teddington and Twickenham.

Reception

The film garnered mainly positive reviews, receiving 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics noted the strong central performance of Georgia Groome, who was praised for her "super-engaging" and "endearingly natural" performance.

The film has earned $14,924,919 which includes $10.6 million from the UK alone. The film was in the top 40 in the UK and Ireland and Malta 2008 box office.

Track listing

1. "She's So Lovely" - Scouting for Girls
2. "Girls and Boys In Love" - The Rumble Strips
3. ""The Show" - Lenka
4. "Naïve" - Lily Allen
5. "She's Got You High" - Mumm-Ra
6. "Who Needs Love" - Razorlight
7. "Your Song" - Kate Walsh
8. "Mad About the Boy" - Ava Leigh
9. "Young Folks" - Peter Bjorn and John
10. "Toothpaste Kisses" - The Maccabees
11. "Sugar Mouse" - Oh Atoms
12. "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" - Stiff Dylans
13. ""I Found Out" - The Pigeon Detectives
14. ""In the Morning" - The Coral
15. "Pull Shapes" - The Pipettes
16. "Great DJ" - The Ting Tings
17. "Ultraviolet" - Stiff Dylans
18. "Agadoo" - Black Lace

Some songs played in the film were not included on the soundtrack:

1. "Out of Time" - Stiff Dylans
2. "You're The Best Thing" - The Style Council
3. "True" - Spandau Ballet
4. "I'm Your Man"- Shane Richie
5. "Mr. Loverman" - Shabba Ranks
6. "Dance wiv Me" - Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome
7. "Teenage Kicks" - Nouvelle Vague

External links

• Official website
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at the Internet Movie Database
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at AllRovi
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at Rotten Tomatoes
• BBC Slink goes behind the scenes of Angus Thongs... A round of up videos from and about the film