Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gurinder Chadha
Written by	Gurinder Chadha Paul Mayeda Berges Will McRobb Chris Viscardi
Based on	Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers by Louise Rennison
Produced by	Gurinder Chadha Lynda Obst
Starring	Georgia Groome Alan Davies Karen Taylor Aaron Johnson Eleanor Tomlinson
Cinematography	Richard Pope
Edited by	Justin Krish Martin Walsh
Music by	Joby Talbot
Production companies	Nickelodeon Movies Goldcrest Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	25 July 2008 (2008-07-25) (United Kingdom) 28 August 2008 (2008-08-28) (Germany)
Running time	96 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom[1] United States[1] Germany[1]
Language	English
Box office	$14.9 million[2]

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (also known as Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging) is a 2008 teen romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha, based on the young adult novels Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (1999) and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers (2000) by Louise Rennison. The film stars Georgia Groome, Alan Davies, Karen Taylor, Aaron Johnson and Eleanor Tomlinson. The plot follows 14-year-old Georgia Nicholson (Groome) as she tries to find a boyfriend while also organising her 15th-birthday party. This is the first Nickelodeon film to be rated PG-13, as it is their first and only all-British film.

Plot[]

Georgia Nicholson is a 14-year-old girl from Eastbourne who worries about her breasts, fears she will never have a boyfriend and is constantly embarrassed by her parents Connie and Bob and little sister Libby. On the first day of the new school term, Georgia and her friends—Jas, Ellen and Rosie, known as her "Ace Gang"—spot fraternal twin brothers Robbie and Tom, who have recently moved to Eastbourne from London.

Georgia and Jas decide to approach the brothers in their mother's organic foodshop, where they work. Jas is quickly enamored with Tom and Georgia strikes up a conversation with Robbie. However, they soon discover that Robbie is dating Lindsay, the most popular girl in school. After learning that Robbie likes cats, Georgia pretends that her cat Angus has gone missing and asks Robbie for help finding him. Jas has Angus on a leash in the park, but he escapes and Tom rescues him just as Georgia and Robbie arrive. Robbie leaves to spend time with Lindsay and Tom asks Jas on a date, after which they become a couple.

Bob moves to New Zealand for a job, while the rest of the family stays in England. During his absence, Connie hires a handsome builder, Jem, to redo the living room, and begins to spend increasingly longer periods of time with him, prompting Georgia to worry about the state of her parents' marriage.

In an attempt to impress Robbie, Georgia takes "snogging lessons" with Peter Dyer, who becomes infatuated with her. When Peter tries to kiss her at a party, he ends up embarrassing her in front of Robbie, Lindsay, Jas and Tom. In order to evade Peter, Georgia lies to him about being a lesbian. When Tom invites Jas to go swimming with him and Robbie, Georgia tags along. While in the pool, Robbie and Georgia kiss. Robbie then leaves, but promises to call Georgia later.

After not hearing from Robbie in a while, Georgia is heartbroken. She reads Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus and decides to make Robbie jealous so that he realises his feelings for her. She invites Dave to see Robbie's band, the Stiff Dylans, perform. Upon seeing Georgia and Dave dancing and laughing, Robbie tries to talk to her but is stopped by Lindsay.

At school, Dave confronts Georgia about using him to make Robbie jealous. Upon learning what Georgia did to Dave, Robbie severs ties with her. Georgia discovers it was Jas that accidentally leaked this information. After Georgia kicks Jas in the shin during an argument, they vow never to speak to each other again. Shortly afterwards, Robbie tells Georgia he wanted to break up with Lindsay before anything else happened between them, but now he is disappointed with her recent behaviour.

Devastated, Georgia decides that she would like to move to New Zealand. She goes to her father's workplace and breaks down in tears with a woman who works with him, telling her she does not want her family to be apart from each other. She later goes to the beach, knowing Robbie would be there, and apologises to him. Robbie reveals he dumped Lindsay and admits that he still likes Georgia.

On Georgia's 15th birthday, Connie takes her to a club for the first time. The place initially seems empty, but it turns out to be a surprise birthday party which Jas had secretly organised with Connie. She is greeted by all her friends and family, with Jas and Georgia making amends. Bob returns from New Zealand, deciding to stay in Eastbourne for a better job opportunity, after his boss told him about Georgia's breakdown. It is also revealed that Jem is gay and his boyfriend is the owner of the nightclub. The Stiff Dylans are performing the song "Ultraviolet", which Robbie had written about Georgia, when they are interrupted by Lindsay who comes from her own party (to which no one had turned up) and tells Robbie that he would either have to take her back or lose her forever. He tells her that Georgia is the one he wants, and he kisses Georgia onstage. Jas then pulls out Lindsay's breast pads and tosses them into the crowd, prompting a furious Lindsay to storm off the stage.

Ultimately, Georgia is content with her appearance and her eccentric family. As she meets Robbie to walk to school together, she also comments that she has found a boyfriend who thinks she is perfect.

Cast[]

• Georgia Groome as Georgia Nicolson: The main character, a 14-year-old girl who falls in love with Robbie and tries to get him to be her boyfriend throughout the film.
• Aaron Johnson as Robbie Jennings: Georgia's love interest, he is in a band called The Stiff Dylans, and is initially Lindsay's boyfriend at the beginning.
• Karen Taylor as Connie Nicolson: Georgia's mother, she is 'old-fashioned', and scares Georgia as it seems she gets very close to Jem, but also attempts to maintains a close relationship with her daughter.
• Alan Davies as Bob Nicolson: Georgia's loving father, who is a bit "old-fashioned" too, as he does not want Georgia to have a party in a club for her birthday. He travels to New Zealand for work which upsets Georgia and her family.
• Eleanor Tomlinson as Jas: Georgia's best friend, very girlish in understanding, and wants to get a boyfriend just as much as Georgia does. She worries about her lack of ample cleavage. She starts to date Tom, Robbie's fraternal twin brother.
• Manjeeven Grewal as Ellen: Georgia's friend, in 'The Ace gang' along with Georgia, Jas and Rosie. She is the vulnerable one of the group. In the end, she is introduced properly to Dave by Georgia, and they dance together and kiss.
• Georgia Henshaw as Rosie: Georgia's friend, fourth member of 'The Ace gang’. She is the experienced one of the group because she already has a boyfriend called Sven.
• Kimberley Nixon as Lindsay (Slaggy Lindsay): Georgia's rival, is the 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 Jennings: Robbie's brother, later Jas' boyfriend.
• Tommy Bastow as Dave "The Laugh": Georgia uses Dave to make Robbie jealous, which makes him feel very hurt. Dave is one of Robbie's best friends. He had feelings for Georgia until the party. He then dances with Ellen and they share a kiss.
• Liam Hess as Peter Dyer (Saliva Boy): A charismatic boy in Georgia's class. He gives girls lessons on how to snog, charging five 'quid' for a session. He likes Georgia a lot, though the feeling is not mutual.
• Matt Brinkler as Sven: Rosie's crazy boyfriend, an exchange student from Sweden.
• Eva Drew as Libby Nicolson: Georgia's eccentric 5-year-old sister. Likes to dress up her cat Angus.
• Steve Jones as Jem: He remodels/decorates a room in Georgia's house and Georgia thinks her mother is falling for him.
• Stiff Dylans as themselves (with the extension of Robbie).
• Ray Shirley as Woman with the Poodle
• Benny & Jimmy as Angus: The cat of titular distinction.

Production[]

Chadha was originally brought into the project as a scriptwriter:^[3]

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.^[4] 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 west London like Bishopshalt school in Hillingdon and the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge were used as well.^[5] Other sites include locations in Teddington and Twickenham. Costumes included green blazers and kilts borrowed from St. Bede's Prep School in Eastbourne, and props included Eastbourne's signature blue bins to add to the effect and continuity when filming in multiple locations.

Release[]

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging was the first film produced by Nickelodeon Movies to receive a PG-13 rating.^[6]

Reception[]

The film received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 72% based on reviews from 25 critics, with an average score of 5.92/10. The site's consensus states: "Based on two of British writer Louise Rennison's popular books, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a pleasant and funny tween comedy, comfortable for UK audiences as well as stateside crowds."^[7]

Critics noted the strong central performance of Georgia Groome, who was praised for her "super-engaging"^[8] performance.

Box office[]

The film has earned $14,924,919, which includes $10,627,381 (£6.6 million) from the UK alone.^[9] The film was in the top 40 in the UK and Ireland and Malta 2008 box office.^[10] The film was not released theatrically in the United States, but instead had its U.S. premiere on Nick at Nite and TeenNick and was later was released on DVD.

Music[]

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	July 21, 2008
Genre	Pop rock
Label	Columbia

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"She's So Lovely"	Scouting for Girls	3:42
2.	"Girls and Boys in Love"	The Rumble Strips	2:31
3.	"The Show"	Lenka	3:54
4.	"Naïve"	Lily Allen	3:44
5.	"She's Got You High"	Mumm-Ra	3:24
6.	"Who Needs Love"	Razorlight	3:31
7.	"Your Song"	Kate Walsh	4:07
8.	"Mad About the Boy"	Ava Leigh	3:22
9.	"Young Folks"	Peter Bjorn and John	4:37
10.	"Toothpaste Kisses"	The Maccabees	2:37
11.	"Sugar Mouse"	Oh, Atoms	4:36
12.	"Ever Fallen in Love"	Stiff Dylans	2:59
13.	"I Found Out"	The Pigeon Detectives	2:03
14.	"In the Morning"	The Coral	2:32
15.	"Pull Shapes"	The Pipettes	2:58
16.	"Great DJ"	The Ting Tings	3:22
17.	"Ultraviolet"	Stiff Dylans	3:46

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. "Agadoo" – Black Lace
4. "True" – Spandau Ballet
5. "I'm Your Man" – Shane Richie
6. "Mr. Loverman" – Shabba Ranks
7. "Dance wiv Me" – Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome
8. "Teenage Kicks" – Nouvelle Vague
9. "Big Fish, Little Fish" – Nik Martin

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at IMDb
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at AllMovie
• 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