Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

"Gurinder Chadha's films are almost always better than you think they're going to be, possibly thanks to their horribly inane titles," writes the Telegraph's Tim Robey. "What's Cooking? (2000) sounds like a dumbed-down translation of a bad Singaporean romcom. Bride & Prejudice (2004) is a pun to make Jane Austen moan and wriggle beneath the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral. What to make of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging?... I approached with a mixture of dread and resignation. And was promptly charmed to pieces."

More from Mike McCahill.

Updated through 7/30.

"The film is a gentle romantic comedy, whose title was changed from Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging (as the novel on which it is based is called) so as not to offend American audiences," supposes Derek Malcolm in the Evening Standard. "But it couldn't possibly offend anyone, since these kids are so unlike the beastie boys and girls of tabloid imagination that you scarcely recognise them as modern children."

"Sweet and often funny," finds Wally Hammond in Time Out.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw finds it "a bit too cheesy and icky, but I can't help reflecting that movies for 14-year-old girls like this are destined to be patronised, while movies for 14-year-boys like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight get treated with saucer-eyed respect by the overwhelmingly male commentariat."

"The soundtrack blasts 'She's So Lovely' by the frothy popsters Scouting for Girls," notes Kevin Maher in the London Times. "If you've heard the song (sing 'She's so luv-eh-lee' a thousand times without taking breath), you'll get a sense of the movie's 'infectious' tone."

"The title is horrible, and I'm afraid I didn't find the movie attached to it much better," grumbles the Independent's Anthony Quinn.

Interviews with Chadha: Kaleem Aftab (Independent), Cath Clarke (Guardian) and David Gritten (Telegraph).

Update, 7/30: Teen lit is thriving, finds Alice Wignall in the Guardian.

Posted by dwhudson at July 25, 2008 6:20 AM