The Festival (15) Dir. Iain Morris

“Yeah, he’s a cheat and a bully, but he’s donated a lot of money to charity, and he’s got a great podcast...” From the writers of The Inbetweeners comes a bit of different kind of trip… Nick (Joe Thomas who’s 34 but still gets by in a ‘Grease’ style playing a teenager) takes it badly when his girlfriend who he thought he’d be with forever dumps him at his graduation. What’s a man to do except have a huge meltdown in front of the entire university and then hide in his bedroom forevermore? But his one mate Shane (Hammed ‘Black Mirror’ Animashaun) has the perfect solution: three days at an epic music festival. The duo unwittingly team up with self-confessed ‘festival aficionado’ / certified oddball Amy (Claudia O’Doherty) and things get a little out of hand… Will they run into Nick’s ex (Hannah Tointon) and her snooty pals? Might Shane get to somehow meet his hero DJ Hammerhead? Will you care by the end? This isn’t a nice family film – unless you think seeing our hero’s mum unwittingly licking his stray love emissions off his graduation gown something you could watch with your kin!? The jokes are very variable in quality and not often in good taste. An awful lot of the film is spent with just scenes of last year’s Reading / Leeds festival which pad out the lamentably predictable plot. Sure, here and there you’ll find yourself giggling but overuse of things such as The Killer’s Mr Brightside which gets repeat played throughout just leaves you wishing for the real thing rather than this secondhand festival experience. There are the obligatory drugged up scenes – which unfortunately come across as kind of adverts for taking illegal substances. The only good time straight Nick seems to have is when off his head on MDMA having a meaningless wild night of passion with a Smurf-themed hen-party ‘Smurfette’ (Emma Rigby). And then there are the inevitable celebrity cameos which include Noel Fielding and bit parts for comedy actors like Nick Frost. If you set your expectations to ‘lower end of British comedy movies’ then you might not hate every moment, but The Festival badly squanders its fun premise, relying on toilet gags and humiliating situations. Alas the characters here really aren’t as likeable as the Inbetweeners so it’s hard to root for them. This Festival feels like knockoff – watch at your own peril…