[yasr_overall_rating]
After attracting both media and police attention for accidentally knocking Kate Moss into the River Thames, Edina and Patsy hide out in the south of France.
I recall having to struggle to keep myself awake so I could catch the British sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous” on late night Sundays. It was my only chance to catch anything from across the pond gracing my television screen (thank you PBS and all of its pledgers!). While the never-ending likes of “Are You Being Served?” and “Keeping Up Appearances” were great, I had had my fill and desired the frivolousness of Ab Fab with its duo of bizarrely dressed boozed up women who seemed to muck it up often and took pleasure in doing so. I was mostly fascinated by Joanna Lumley’s vitriolic Patsy. She was like this creature from beyond, a gauche alien; all sharp edges with a forked tongue and a hedonistic appetite.
Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy are the women you are warned about, the types your mother tries to prevent you from becoming: selfish, delusional, and drugged up. While you may watch these “unlikable” sorts for their depraved antics, you find yourself loving them more and more, and why is that? For me, Edina and Patsy, despite their egregiousness, are ride or die; they are best friends to the very end and you can’t help but love them for it. A couple of decades later, “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” is no different. It’s more of the same but on a grander, more fabulous scale.
Money is apparently tight, as there is no champagne endlessly flowing and Edina’s cards are “broken.” But never fear because Edina has written a memoir, or at least dictated it to her quirky assistant Bubble (Jane Horrocks) and is off to snatch herself a book deal so that money shall flow freely once again. Misfortune strikes as it becomes apparent that Bubble isn’t the best of transcribers. But opportunity knocks once again when it is rumored that the Holy Grail of Fashion, Kate Moss, is looking for new PR. Desperate for a chance, Edina approaches Moss at a fashion event, just as Edina’s PR nemesis Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie) trails behind her, the brief kerfuffle causing Moss to be knocked into the Thames with no resurfacing in sight.
Chaos and mournful bellowing ensues as the news hits worldwide. Edina and Patsy are now blacklisted. Upon hearing she may be charged with manslaughter if Moss doesn’t crop up anytime soon, Edina and Patsy decide to go where all fashionable criminals go, the South of France; taking Lola (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), Edina’s credit card wielding granddaughter, with them and leaving the undeniably square Saffy (Julia Sawalha) in a tizzy.
There is plenty of fashion and foolishness on this misadventure. Longtime fans of the show will revel in the decadence and peppering of drag queens and celebrity cameos, including one split second cameo that brought down the house. The chemistry between Saunders and Lumley is still on point. While some may bemoan “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” to be overstretched, they can go suck a lemon because as we approach the dog days of summer, like a few slugs of vodka, “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” will keep you giddy enough to stave off the summertime blues.
In theaters now
