The Inbetweeners 2 is as filthy as a teenage boy – and it’s hilarious

The first Inbetweeners film made £45 million at the box office, and was such an unexpected smash there was always going to be a second one, which is fair enough. It is based on the TV sitcom (Channel 4, 2008–2010), which was a favourite in our house, not that I was ever allowed to watch it in the same room at the same time as my then teenage son. Why? I would want to know. Because you think I don’t know what ‘clunge’ is? Listen, I’ve had a clunge since before you were born. In fact, you wouldn’t have even been born had it not been for my clunge. But this only made him exit the room even faster, for some reason.

They are daft, teenage boys; filthy-minded, but also sensationally innocent, which is exactly what made The Inbetweeners such hilarious fun. True, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end — how old is Simon Bird now? 47? — and it can’t keep out-grossing itself, joke-wise, for ever, but I did still laugh. Out loud. How often does that happen? Almost never, and I was as shocked as anybody. ‘What is that noise?’ I asked myself. Christ, I’m laughing. Out loud. The boys, our no-hopers, are all here, obviously. That is, Will (Simon Bird; 47), the geeky one who knows he will never be cool, and Jay (James Buckley; 56), who is all hollow braggadocio, and Simon (Joe Thomas; 72), who is the most put-upon, and Neil (Blake Harrison; 112), who is by far the weakest character. They are all dim but Neil’s especial dimness, when he has no other traits, does rather bore the pants off me (but not literally, and certainly not in front of the children).