I have to say that The Inbetweeners, introduced to me by my teenage sons a few years back, was the funniest sitcom I have witnessed since the 2001 series of ‘The Office’ which is also set to become a movie sometime soon.

Because the series was about sixth form college, it’s shelf life was not long, but the much anticipated 2011 movie didn’t disappoint; a hilarious boys holiday in Malia that demonstrated and joyfully reminded us blokes who are now middle aged, that raucous and brainless instincts will always exist in young lads.

So, when I took my youngest son Harry (16) to see the Inbetweeners 2 last night, it was with a  heady mixture of excitement and the real possibility of disappointment; the Inbetweeneers actors are in their mid to late 20’s now, so this is probably the last hurrah.

The Inbetweeners in Australia

The scene was set when the ever excruciating Will, Neil and Si (Simon) were rejected from a party in Bristol (where Will was studying) and decided that because it was the Easter break, they would visit Jay who was on a gap year in Australia.

Of course, Jay was at his bullshitting best and his email to Neil, telling tales of being Sydney’s premier DJ, living in a mansion and fornicating with everyone from Elle Macpherson to both the Minogues was acted out brilliantly by James Buckley (Jay).

Of course on arrival, the rest of the boys discover that Jay is actually a night club toilet cleaner and is living in a tent in the garden of his racist red neck uncle, where his only sexual endeavours are with a hole dug he has dug in the ground.

The story moves on smoothly as Will stumbles across a beautiful but nauseatingly middle class girl from his prep school and only as Will can, he embarks on a quest to impress her with pathetic attempts at being right on and spiritual as he goes about the business of calling everyone ‘man’.

This takes them to Byron Bay, a mecca for rich kids pretending to be hippies by having dreadlocks and smoking weed and Will is at his best as he disowns his mates in pursuit of Katie (Emily Berrington) and a desire to be a cool traveller, not a holiday maker.

The moment he (Will) is trying to be hip with a couple of dreadlocked lads at a bus stop (who are trying to out do each other with outback travelling tales) reaches comedy gold status when Neil arrives with the McFlurry Will had ordered.

Everyone will have their favourite moments in this movie and mine was the scene around the hostel camp fire where the middle class hippies were spiritualising with the dreadlocked white rich kid playing acoustic guitar.

As the lads walked to the scene, Jay blurted out “Oh no…Why is there always some cunt with a guitar”  a classic moment (probably because it was what I would have said)  that I was only just recovering from several minutes later when Will took the guitar off the dreadlocked wanker and offered to  sing a song for Katie.

Everyone in the cinema knew it would be bad, but nothing had prepared us for his rendition of “The first time I saw your face” by Roberta Flack…I spent the whole song with my face and teeth plunged into my seat as I wept with excruciating laughter.

After that, the film descended into usual Inbetweeners chaos, with turds down water slides, dead dolphins and accusations of paedophilia.

Much of it was funny but some of it a bit too obvious and I felt the last 20 minutes petered out a little, despite some great cameo roles from ex-teacher Mr Gilbert and Jay’s chauvinistic father.

Jays attempt to rescue his relationship with his ex girlfriend could have been so much funnier, poignant even, and at the end everything seemed to be a bit cut short and not as well thought out, a bit like tracks eleven and twelve on your favourite album.

However, I enjoyed the movie immensely and to anyone who has embarked on, or witnessed puerile and often pathetic laddism at its best, I would  definitely recommend an hour and a half of escapism with Will, Jay, Simon and Neil.

4 out of 5 from me.