F ion bly g !
Britain’s silliest style duo are back, and they’re simply fabulous, sweetie darlings
INa world bereft of female superheroes, the two leads in the British sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous,” which ran intermittently from 1992 to 2012, were exactly that for the fans.
Their superpower? Not giving a f-- k.
Public relations agent Edina Monsoon (co-creator and series writer Jennifer Saunders) and fashion-mag editor Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) may have been gone for four years, but they haven’t changed — or, unthinkably, matured — a bit. They are loud, abrasive, drunk, stoned, superficial, clumsy, arrogant, garishly dressed, and, perhaps worst of all for their youth-obsessed industries (or, you know, the world at large), aging. They take up too much space, literally and figuratively. They are, essentially, a screaming rebuke to conventional notions about femininity.
We rejoin the besties as Eddie’s Sisyphean struggle to be hip is worsening, thanks to the ever-quicker cycle of media and technology. Lacking clients and cachet, she laments that “my credit cards are broken.”
The notion of signing supermodel Kate Moss leads to a party, where a grasping Edina accidentally bumps Moss into the Thames River, leading Eddie and Pats to flee to the South of France in search of a new life — and someone to fund it. They find their mark in a dowager countess, leading to a riff on “Some Like It Hot” in which Patsy — always teetering on the edge of androgyny anyway — dons a mustache to woo her.
Cameos are too numerous to delineate — A-list models and drag queens abound, naturally — but Jon Hamm, playing himself, is a standout as a former Patsy paramour. And a scene between Lumley and Rebel Wilson, as a flight attendant, channels serious com- ic chemistry. All the regulars return, including Eddie’s endlessly suffering daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha), daffy assistant Bubble (Jane Horrocks) and oblivious mother (June Whitfield).
In a bit of awful timing, there’s a scene featuring the duo in a runaway truck barreling through Nice. (One hopes at least the shot naming the city will be tactfully removed by now.)
That unlucky fact aside, the fantasy world of “Absolutely Fabulous” makes for a delicious escape. Written by Saunders and helmed by British TV director Mandie Fletcher, the film is essentially a long and more expensive episode of the show. It’s funny and messy and imperfect — there are moments that fall flat or confound, just as they did on TV — but on the whole, it’s a pitch-perfect love letter to “Ab Fab” devotees. As for newcomers? My advice: See it after a couple of Stolis, darling, and you’ll be just fine.