46 reviews
Many reviews and rating have pretty much all together decided - quite rightly - that the USA Remake of The Inbetweeners is a bit s**t. However many reviewers have failed to specify exactly why.
The answer is that this remake is just too fake. The original show had something truly tangible to work with, you got the feeling that the writers were really drawing on their own teen experiences and it made the show very familiar and as a result ten times funnier. Everyone knows a friends like Jay - always talking crap; Neil - the big idiot; Will the nerdy one and Simon the love sick puppy. The chemistry between the actors was fantastic and the banter is truly accurate to how good friends talk to each other.
But most of all The Inbetweeners was real. The houses weren't mansions and there were no "jocks" or "spring break" it was realistic and down to earth, showing what High School is really like, not looking at it through rose tinted glasses. Every time a character got hung up about something in school it made it all the more funnier because the show and audience know that it really isn't a big deal in reality. There was a kind of running theme of things being quite pathetic which is what gave it it's charm.
The remake misses this point completely. Everything looks like it's shot at magic hour, there's constant obnoxious music and the characters are no longer real. Will is...handsome and not awkward in the slightest. The only thing that makes him appear odd is his blazer and suit case but even then it looks fine. Neil, rather than being a little slow and goofy has become almost brain dead. Jay has just become too obnoxious, sure he was that way in the original but you got the sense that everyone knew how sad he truly was which made him endearing. And finally Simon is every other teen romance protagonist ever.
Another reason it doesn't work is the pacing, the timing of each scene. The verbal jokes in the original worked because they were quick, sharp, something about the dialogue just popped and honestly some things just sound funnier in a British accent. Entire pieces of dialogue are given to the American actors and it just doesn't seem as genuine. But another problem is that it has simply been watered down. The original four said the most obscene things to each other, linking dozens of swear words together in the same sentence and talking about extremely personal subjects. The reason this worked is because that's exactly how teenage friends talk to one another and real slang is used in the show. In the US version everything becomes more PG. In the original we have Jay talking about anal sex, fingering and toe f****ng while also making gay jokes about someone's Dad. Then in the US version Jay calls Will a "renob" because it's boner written backwards (seriously?) No teenager talks that way.
What makes it worse is that as well as verbal jokes not working the visual, physical gags fall flat as well. A joke lifted from the original is Will throwing a Frisbee which ends up hitting a disabled/mentally handicapped person in a wheelchair. In the remake it's a football hitting someone on crutches. Almost the same joke but just toned down a lot. Each time these things happened in the original there was a sense of "oh s**t they didn't just do that..." but in this remake the jokes are made extremely obvious.
What the makers of the US version should've done is not try to copy and paste dialogue and gags from the original, but instead get an American writer to draw on his own experiences to create new jokes and new gags. Someone like David Sedaris or Seth MacFarlane manage to infuse their work with wit and personality. The writers on this show, however, seem to be more concerned with how to adapt an already successful joke written by someone else.
Overall the show itself is not badly made but it's just not funny and for a comedy show that's the worst offence it can give.
The answer is that this remake is just too fake. The original show had something truly tangible to work with, you got the feeling that the writers were really drawing on their own teen experiences and it made the show very familiar and as a result ten times funnier. Everyone knows a friends like Jay - always talking crap; Neil - the big idiot; Will the nerdy one and Simon the love sick puppy. The chemistry between the actors was fantastic and the banter is truly accurate to how good friends talk to each other.
But most of all The Inbetweeners was real. The houses weren't mansions and there were no "jocks" or "spring break" it was realistic and down to earth, showing what High School is really like, not looking at it through rose tinted glasses. Every time a character got hung up about something in school it made it all the more funnier because the show and audience know that it really isn't a big deal in reality. There was a kind of running theme of things being quite pathetic which is what gave it it's charm.
The remake misses this point completely. Everything looks like it's shot at magic hour, there's constant obnoxious music and the characters are no longer real. Will is...handsome and not awkward in the slightest. The only thing that makes him appear odd is his blazer and suit case but even then it looks fine. Neil, rather than being a little slow and goofy has become almost brain dead. Jay has just become too obnoxious, sure he was that way in the original but you got the sense that everyone knew how sad he truly was which made him endearing. And finally Simon is every other teen romance protagonist ever.
Another reason it doesn't work is the pacing, the timing of each scene. The verbal jokes in the original worked because they were quick, sharp, something about the dialogue just popped and honestly some things just sound funnier in a British accent. Entire pieces of dialogue are given to the American actors and it just doesn't seem as genuine. But another problem is that it has simply been watered down. The original four said the most obscene things to each other, linking dozens of swear words together in the same sentence and talking about extremely personal subjects. The reason this worked is because that's exactly how teenage friends talk to one another and real slang is used in the show. In the US version everything becomes more PG. In the original we have Jay talking about anal sex, fingering and toe f****ng while also making gay jokes about someone's Dad. Then in the US version Jay calls Will a "renob" because it's boner written backwards (seriously?) No teenager talks that way.
What makes it worse is that as well as verbal jokes not working the visual, physical gags fall flat as well. A joke lifted from the original is Will throwing a Frisbee which ends up hitting a disabled/mentally handicapped person in a wheelchair. In the remake it's a football hitting someone on crutches. Almost the same joke but just toned down a lot. Each time these things happened in the original there was a sense of "oh s**t they didn't just do that..." but in this remake the jokes are made extremely obvious.
What the makers of the US version should've done is not try to copy and paste dialogue and gags from the original, but instead get an American writer to draw on his own experiences to create new jokes and new gags. Someone like David Sedaris or Seth MacFarlane manage to infuse their work with wit and personality. The writers on this show, however, seem to be more concerned with how to adapt an already successful joke written by someone else.
Overall the show itself is not badly made but it's just not funny and for a comedy show that's the worst offence it can give.
- coleman601-504-844864
- May 31, 2015
- Permalink
This show isn't even watchable. It misses everything that made the original series brilliant. In the original, the characters and stories were believable-like they had been plucked out of the typical school experience for most of the population, thus it was extremely engaging because it was so relatable. Everyone knew someone who reminded them of Simon, Will, Jay, and/or Neil. The characters were human and three dimensional, and even though the dialogue and situations were sometimes heightened, they felt real and you want to pull for the characters (even Jay.)
The US version totally misses the mark. The guy they have playing Will is not an actual dork with an IDGAF confidence that actually makes him lovable, if also even dorkier. The US will is some second-rate Tiger Beat model they've slapped a blazer onto and called him a dork. You never really buy his character because it's so fake. If this were a real kid in a US high school, you wouldn't expect him to get bullied and repel female attention.
The US Simon is so uninteresting and plastic. The original Simon isn't classically handsome, but cute and charismatic enough for us to believe out of the four, he has an actual chance of having a sexual relationship with a girl before he's out of high school. It's probably 50-50, but it's believable that he might score. The US Simon has no depth. He's always acting, and it reads as fake. He's also got a model's face, so in an actual US high school, it's not believable that he would have so much trouble getting a girlfriend.
The US Neil is played like an insufferable idiot who's fried his brain on drugs or something. The original Neil is a bit like the Rose Nylund of the school-daft but lovable. He doesn't sit around with bowls on his head like the moron in the US version. The Neil scenes in the original were my favorite and they made me laugh the hardest. In the US version, I could barely watch the Neil scenes.
And then there's Jay. He is so horribly miscast in the US version. Jay is supposed to be a filthy liar who has just enough credibility that some people believe his fantastical sexual adventures. He's also pretty fragile underneath that façade of lies. The way the original Jay reacts to his dad's abuse is an example of how the character's more than just a toilet mouthed pervert. The US Jay is completely unbelievable. It reads as if this Jay is telling all of his stories for laughs rather than in the hopes that people believe him and put him on a pedestal. The acting is flat. And he extremely, extremely unattractive compared to the other three. It's not believable that they're a group of best friends in an actual US high school. Not believable at all.
In addition to the casting, what made The Inbetweeners UK so brilliant was the honesty and near universal relatability to the situations. You either cut class and went day-drinking once yourself, or you knew someone who had. That's part of the UK scholastic experience. Where the US missed he mark here is they tried to copy and paste scenarios that might be universal truths in Great Britain, but are alien to a US audience. It's just not universal in the States for a group of friends to ditch school, purchase hard liquor, get drunk during the day, and do something embarrassing in front of their love interest all before the parents expected them back from school. It might happen here and there, but I doubt most people could identify one such group in their US school experience. It's not universal, thus, it's not nearly as relatable as the UK series.
Also, in the UK version, the kids talked like actual school boys would talk without getting bleeped by censors. The US version cleans up the language substantially and bleeps words like sh--, so it again loses the realness factor so fabulously captured by the Brits.
I really wanted to like it, but it's painful to watch. Major misses in casting, production design, and adaptation of the source material turned a Crown Jewel of British television into a royal flop.
The US version totally misses the mark. The guy they have playing Will is not an actual dork with an IDGAF confidence that actually makes him lovable, if also even dorkier. The US will is some second-rate Tiger Beat model they've slapped a blazer onto and called him a dork. You never really buy his character because it's so fake. If this were a real kid in a US high school, you wouldn't expect him to get bullied and repel female attention.
The US Simon is so uninteresting and plastic. The original Simon isn't classically handsome, but cute and charismatic enough for us to believe out of the four, he has an actual chance of having a sexual relationship with a girl before he's out of high school. It's probably 50-50, but it's believable that he might score. The US Simon has no depth. He's always acting, and it reads as fake. He's also got a model's face, so in an actual US high school, it's not believable that he would have so much trouble getting a girlfriend.
The US Neil is played like an insufferable idiot who's fried his brain on drugs or something. The original Neil is a bit like the Rose Nylund of the school-daft but lovable. He doesn't sit around with bowls on his head like the moron in the US version. The Neil scenes in the original were my favorite and they made me laugh the hardest. In the US version, I could barely watch the Neil scenes.
And then there's Jay. He is so horribly miscast in the US version. Jay is supposed to be a filthy liar who has just enough credibility that some people believe his fantastical sexual adventures. He's also pretty fragile underneath that façade of lies. The way the original Jay reacts to his dad's abuse is an example of how the character's more than just a toilet mouthed pervert. The US Jay is completely unbelievable. It reads as if this Jay is telling all of his stories for laughs rather than in the hopes that people believe him and put him on a pedestal. The acting is flat. And he extremely, extremely unattractive compared to the other three. It's not believable that they're a group of best friends in an actual US high school. Not believable at all.
In addition to the casting, what made The Inbetweeners UK so brilliant was the honesty and near universal relatability to the situations. You either cut class and went day-drinking once yourself, or you knew someone who had. That's part of the UK scholastic experience. Where the US missed he mark here is they tried to copy and paste scenarios that might be universal truths in Great Britain, but are alien to a US audience. It's just not universal in the States for a group of friends to ditch school, purchase hard liquor, get drunk during the day, and do something embarrassing in front of their love interest all before the parents expected them back from school. It might happen here and there, but I doubt most people could identify one such group in their US school experience. It's not universal, thus, it's not nearly as relatable as the UK series.
Also, in the UK version, the kids talked like actual school boys would talk without getting bleeped by censors. The US version cleans up the language substantially and bleeps words like sh--, so it again loses the realness factor so fabulously captured by the Brits.
I really wanted to like it, but it's painful to watch. Major misses in casting, production design, and adaptation of the source material turned a Crown Jewel of British television into a royal flop.
I do not even know where to begin...let's just say i watched the first episode and in order to erase it from memory (tried but it was so bad that nothing good could do it) i watched all 3 seasons and the movie of the original... What on earth they were thinking before they made this! I mean OK fine let's make a US version but surely to copy the UK one at times line by line then make a total (in words of Simon) Sh*t, is beyond me.
I am hearing there might be a US movie version on the horizon but for the love of god, hope this does not happen!!!
Just to summarize, do not waste your time watching this, the first episode was so bad that i very much doubt this can possibly get better with more!
I am hearing there might be a US movie version on the horizon but for the love of god, hope this does not happen!!!
Just to summarize, do not waste your time watching this, the first episode was so bad that i very much doubt this can possibly get better with more!
America took an amazing British comedy and recycled the exact same jokes and story line but somehow managed ruin it. I don't think America understand why the original inbetweeners was actually funny in the first place.
If you have never watched the original then I guess it wouldn't be as awful but still pretty bad. Its hard to compare without being completely biased but the American take is just not as funny.
By replicating the show and not matching the correct cast to suit the characters it wasn't the same. America, stick to American pie please, the only good remake of British comedies you have done has been the office and even then you dragged it out way to long. After Steve Carell left you should have ended it there, but thats whole different review.
If you have never watched the original then I guess it wouldn't be as awful but still pretty bad. Its hard to compare without being completely biased but the American take is just not as funny.
By replicating the show and not matching the correct cast to suit the characters it wasn't the same. America, stick to American pie please, the only good remake of British comedies you have done has been the office and even then you dragged it out way to long. After Steve Carell left you should have ended it there, but thats whole different review.
- aewaddilove
- Dec 4, 2014
- Permalink
I really don't understand the reason of making this at all. I find it quite insulting that anyone would even try and match the original programme. No disrespect to American broadcasting but the ultimate question is why? The cast is overall weird and the programme is poorly acted and constructed, ad least try and re brand it but do things different instead of trying to copy the original series directly. Oveall this is not worth watching and another season probably wont be made.
Its just overall insulting and even the preview on here and especially you-tube people were already annoyed with this programme.
Its just overall insulting and even the preview on here and especially you-tube people were already annoyed with this programme.
- ethan_3000
- Sep 23, 2012
- Permalink
How on this EARTH did this show get made? This is the problem with adapting British sitcoms for American audiences; for every one that succeeds-like the Office-there are flops such as this.
The British Inbetweeners succeeded because it felt real, the characters felt like real high school students and the setting felt real. Here, the four boys are just warped unrecognisable versions of themselves! Will is too handsome and uptight, Neil, who's nice but a bit daft, is turned into some brain-dead stoner, and sex pest Jay is basically a dollar store Seth Rogen!
Everything looks like it was shot at magic hour, and there's this annoying muzak that pulsates through the background. Yeah, they used music in the British version but they used it at appropriate moments and sparingly!
Worst of all, because of the American broadcasting laws, the swearing and sex references had to be toned down, which neutered the series.
All in all, I'm happy that this American travesty was cancelled! You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it!
The British Inbetweeners succeeded because it felt real, the characters felt like real high school students and the setting felt real. Here, the four boys are just warped unrecognisable versions of themselves! Will is too handsome and uptight, Neil, who's nice but a bit daft, is turned into some brain-dead stoner, and sex pest Jay is basically a dollar store Seth Rogen!
Everything looks like it was shot at magic hour, and there's this annoying muzak that pulsates through the background. Yeah, they used music in the British version but they used it at appropriate moments and sparingly!
Worst of all, because of the American broadcasting laws, the swearing and sex references had to be toned down, which neutered the series.
All in all, I'm happy that this American travesty was cancelled! You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it!
- tomdaly-17436
- Jun 12, 2019
- Permalink
There is only two words all together in the world to describe the Inbetweeners USA.And those words are lazy and stupid.As a huge fan of the original version I am very annoyed at this.When I first saw the trailer for this show I was thinking this has to be the biggest piece of crap of the year.I was wrong.It is the biggest piece of crap in at least 5 years.
In an interview the cast of the remake quoted they took the jokes from the original and americanized them or something like that.But when I watched the pilot all the jokes,lines,situations etc were the exact same as the original.Some people might ask If the jokes are the same than what's there to complain about?Well using the exact same jokes and lines just shows laziness, IN-creativity and more off a reason why a US remake was just pointless.
The acting is really bad.I mean Paris Hilton bad.And the characters are monstrous compared to the original characters. Jay's voice is really annoying and he's tremendously overweight.Simon and Will look like the Jonas Brothers.And Neil(who was my favorite character in the original) looks like a stoner.In the original Neil was funny stupid.In the US version he's stupid stupid. I'm not hating on American's or anything like that but it's about time they start making up new idea's for comedy's instead of remaking British ones and ruining them.To sum it up."If it's not broken then don't fix it".
In an interview the cast of the remake quoted they took the jokes from the original and americanized them or something like that.But when I watched the pilot all the jokes,lines,situations etc were the exact same as the original.Some people might ask If the jokes are the same than what's there to complain about?Well using the exact same jokes and lines just shows laziness, IN-creativity and more off a reason why a US remake was just pointless.
The acting is really bad.I mean Paris Hilton bad.And the characters are monstrous compared to the original characters. Jay's voice is really annoying and he's tremendously overweight.Simon and Will look like the Jonas Brothers.And Neil(who was my favorite character in the original) looks like a stoner.In the original Neil was funny stupid.In the US version he's stupid stupid. I'm not hating on American's or anything like that but it's about time they start making up new idea's for comedy's instead of remaking British ones and ruining them.To sum it up."If it's not broken then don't fix it".
If I could give this 0 out of 10 I would! It's an absolute disgrace how they even Aired this and got views! I'm a massive fan of the British version and watched every episode of it a million times over! When I heard about the US remake I knew it was going to be a flop just like the rest of the remakes they tried e.g shameless, the office etc!
Every single joke down to the door on the car being removed has been copied and same with all of their sayings! They are nothing like the English characters, their portrayed completely wrong, there as as thick as f*ck and will the geeky one to me is portrayed as the best looking! They've tried to Americanize it and have failed very badly! Anybody who gives this show a thumbs up is American (which is no surprise).
If I could give anyone any advice I would say don't waste your time watching this b*ll*cks! You will get more entertainment by watching paint dry! Don't give them views, I hope this review helped ! I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me on this one, you will never ever be able to recreate comedy gold like the original!!!!
Every single joke down to the door on the car being removed has been copied and same with all of their sayings! They are nothing like the English characters, their portrayed completely wrong, there as as thick as f*ck and will the geeky one to me is portrayed as the best looking! They've tried to Americanize it and have failed very badly! Anybody who gives this show a thumbs up is American (which is no surprise).
If I could give anyone any advice I would say don't waste your time watching this b*ll*cks! You will get more entertainment by watching paint dry! Don't give them views, I hope this review helped ! I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me on this one, you will never ever be able to recreate comedy gold like the original!!!!
- emmamariemerry
- Aug 11, 2014
- Permalink
Awful and embarrassing... a very funny series made cringy! Should have never been made!
- ashleightimmins
- Mar 17, 2019
- Permalink
It's a absolute joke. Purely awful remake.... I don't know what was going through their heads to make this the worst thing on humanity.
- meganaliceshepp
- May 26, 2021
- Permalink
This show has excellent potential for sophomoric humour! I thoroughly enjoyed 90% of the first program. Believe it or not, I watched it twice as I wanted my wife to see it too.I laughed more in this half hour comedy than I did in the movies, The Hangover and Bridemaids combined. I found both of those major hit films mostly unfunny and sometimes just plain mean spirited. This program is not mean spirited.
It's not everyone's cup of tea as my wife thought it vulgar and too lowbrow for her. However, she has more of a "pie in your face" kind of sense of humour. This had a National Lampoon, Onion kind of feel and reminded me faintly of the wonderful Judd Apatow series, Freaks and Geeks. I will definitely watch again and again!
It's not everyone's cup of tea as my wife thought it vulgar and too lowbrow for her. However, she has more of a "pie in your face" kind of sense of humour. This had a National Lampoon, Onion kind of feel and reminded me faintly of the wonderful Judd Apatow series, Freaks and Geeks. I will definitely watch again and again!
- larderr-401-782858
- Sep 11, 2012
- Permalink
This is good. It's not brilliant like the UK version but it is pretty funny. Will and Simon are quite well cast but Jay and Neil are nothing special but maybe they'll get better as the series progresses.
After watching the pilot, it pretty much closely follows the UK script but is not as good as the original. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as The US Office pilot was a copy of the UK version but not as good. After they went in their own direction with the scripts and stopped copying the UK version, it fell into place and was great for many seasons(until they killed it to death and beat the corpse with a iron baseball bat)
This version is watchable and has it's moments, I like it (but I don't love it enough to flick it's clunge!)
After watching the pilot, it pretty much closely follows the UK script but is not as good as the original. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as The US Office pilot was a copy of the UK version but not as good. After they went in their own direction with the scripts and stopped copying the UK version, it fell into place and was great for many seasons(until they killed it to death and beat the corpse with a iron baseball bat)
This version is watchable and has it's moments, I like it (but I don't love it enough to flick it's clunge!)
- derektrotteresq
- Sep 4, 2012
- Permalink
Watched the trailer and just knew it was awful! got half way through first episode and HAD to switch over was shocking someone can make something so bad and think that's comedy i can't imagine the type of person that would sit and laugh to that, the acting is shocking and its the UK one nearly word for word except they have taken all the best most funny bits and changed it to this camp American humor. Jay is fat and looks retarded, Neil with long hair ha no way and wills no were near geeky looking enough MTV really need to stop trying to copy outer programs history shows that it just doesn't work at all.
I like the original and most of my favorite shows are made in America but every single British show they remake they go all wrong with it and this is just another one to add to the forever growing flop list.
.......
I like the original and most of my favorite shows are made in America but every single British show they remake they go all wrong with it and this is just another one to add to the forever growing flop list.
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THIS SHOW IS GODDAMN HORRIBLE i watched it on MTV bc i live in los Angeles and as an American i apologise for this loathsome piece of filth and what i do i just watch the uk version through uk VPN with my all4 account bc I'm not watching uk version in America bc they bleep all of the language which makes it not fun to watch i do not blame joe Thomas for criticising this garbage and yeah I'm American speaking out against this piece of trash the attempt to recapture the original show that is the best and funniest show ever made the attempt to recapture it is truly awful filled with awful jokes and bad humour and no swearing or offensive language seriously they couldn't even be bothered to make the episodes even the same as the original thats how much they care seriously majority of the episodes do their own thing i mean seriously i didn't even watch all of this it was so bad I'm sticking to the original British series and the two movies because at least they have something to offer and i feel so bad for every British person who loves the original series and who had to put up with this whatever the hell this is even IMDB hates this garbage the IMDB rating is not surprising as it is 2.9 well i give it 1 star or even better no stars this show isn't even worthy of having stars its an absolute insult to the original seriously if you like this series your on the wrong side seriously if i was British and i wanted to bring my comedy to the USA id give it to HBO and ask them specifically to make it exactly the same and no exceptions where i serve as writer so i get to write all the episodes and story and script and producer too so i get to make all the demands and stuff.
- sniperboss-15366
- May 25, 2022
- Permalink
Jesus wept, where to begin. Well for a start, this television show is bad... like David Hasselhoff singing bad. And this is all the more tragic when one takes into account the brilliance of the original British series, which oozed with a humble, crass believability that has not been retained in it's journey across the pond. The US version plays in a manner akin to a terrible PSA, complete with sketchy, am dram standard acting. One of my main qualms about this show is the casting, which tries to Americanise the four main characters of the original to no obvious effect. I can only assume that their sense of humour and their idiosyncrasies were described to the casting team by Helen Keller. The jokes (which were blatantly copy and pasted from the British script)that worked damn well in the original series go down like a crap in a space suit, whether due to the acting, comedic timing, or simply the perfunctory direction. My advice would be not to bother, unless you have a spare half an hour of your life to throw away.
I had only watched the first episode of the US version of 'The Inbetweeners' and i was already disappointed. The humour doesn't seem to work as a lot of the lines are just copied from the original UK version which i am a big fan of.
I watched an episode of this hoping that it would be equally as good as the original because 'Bwark Productions' have stopped making more episodes of the UK version. I didn't enjoy it at all but i would like to know what the American viewers thought of it as they may have a different opinion.
If you liked the original then i would recommend watching the first episode of the re-make and see what you think but it didn't appeal to me.
I watched an episode of this hoping that it would be equally as good as the original because 'Bwark Productions' have stopped making more episodes of the UK version. I didn't enjoy it at all but i would like to know what the American viewers thought of it as they may have a different opinion.
If you liked the original then i would recommend watching the first episode of the re-make and see what you think but it didn't appeal to me.
Seriously get hot pokers proceed to put them in your eyes spend a year in hospital and I hear you ask you will not get that year back we'll believe me I'd rather loose a year of my life than spend an episode watching this that year is well spent to avoid thirty minutes of sheer garbage
- chrisjones-51312
- Feb 20, 2017
- Permalink
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Will (Joey Pollairi) is the new guy in high school, who stands out as a prime target for bullies. He soon makes friends with Jay (Zach Pearlman), Simon (Bubba Lewis) and Neil (Mark L. Young), three other social misfits who are not complete dorks but far from the coolest kids in school, either.
It always spurs you on as a Brit when something home grown becomes a success, as I imagine it probably does for anyone from a small country that's not at the centre of the world (not anymore, anyway.) But it's a sad thing and a sign of the times when the only way to tell what a massive success it's been is when the Americans go and remake it. In fact, this is almost inevitable. And, inevitably, a whole lot worse.
The best way I can describe The Inbetweeners USA is: imagine you've just read a really great Stephen King novel, and then see a film adaptation of it that is just like what you've read, but just...lamer. That really is how this is like. It's everything you've already seen in the British version, just done by American actors and not even half as bloody well. Where cultural slang changes, it becomes most evident and most painful ("bus 'turds'???") and further showcases what a desperate, sorry, insincere mess this whole thing is. To add insult to injury, the performers don't even look like their British counter parts, and so we have an overweight Jay, a hippie like Neil and Will and Simon resembling the Jonas brothers. To not even respect your source material is the biggest disrespect.
If you're the type that would rather drive a Mondeo than a Mercedes, this will definitely be your thing. But I imagine you're different to most people. *
Will (Joey Pollairi) is the new guy in high school, who stands out as a prime target for bullies. He soon makes friends with Jay (Zach Pearlman), Simon (Bubba Lewis) and Neil (Mark L. Young), three other social misfits who are not complete dorks but far from the coolest kids in school, either.
It always spurs you on as a Brit when something home grown becomes a success, as I imagine it probably does for anyone from a small country that's not at the centre of the world (not anymore, anyway.) But it's a sad thing and a sign of the times when the only way to tell what a massive success it's been is when the Americans go and remake it. In fact, this is almost inevitable. And, inevitably, a whole lot worse.
The best way I can describe The Inbetweeners USA is: imagine you've just read a really great Stephen King novel, and then see a film adaptation of it that is just like what you've read, but just...lamer. That really is how this is like. It's everything you've already seen in the British version, just done by American actors and not even half as bloody well. Where cultural slang changes, it becomes most evident and most painful ("bus 'turds'???") and further showcases what a desperate, sorry, insincere mess this whole thing is. To add insult to injury, the performers don't even look like their British counter parts, and so we have an overweight Jay, a hippie like Neil and Will and Simon resembling the Jonas brothers. To not even respect your source material is the biggest disrespect.
If you're the type that would rather drive a Mondeo than a Mercedes, this will definitely be your thing. But I imagine you're different to most people. *
- wellthatswhatithinkanyway
- May 31, 2013
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This is a grossly inferior American remake of the excellent British sitcom of the same name. The writing and acting are lame. The characters are less interesting.
I've never heard anyone say that they like it. Its ratings failure led to it being axed after its first series.
I've never heard anyone say that they like it. Its ratings failure led to it being axed after its first series.
What can I say? The humor is just like any other American comedy show - tacky, slap stick and in your face. US viewers probably will enjoy this but it doesn't even come close to the UK original. It's almost offensive that there's been a remake this bad. Just like the Danish version of The Killing (one of the most amazing series ever made), there just HAD to be a US remake didn't there? Oh and Gavin and Stacey...which I'm sure will be appalling. How about just enjoying the originals instead of making your own? As American TV goes, the makers of this monstrosity have made everyone more attractive except for the 'comedy' fat boy. I do genuinely feel lucky to be British when it comes to a sense of humor. There's none of this slap stick comedy and it's much more subtle. I won't be watching anymore of these.
- missfrancescaward
- Jun 4, 2014
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- tonystark1997
- Sep 22, 2012
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Will Mackenzie (Joey Pollari) is the new kid in school. He is a hopeless dork who carries around a suitcase. Simon Cooper (Bubba Lewis) is super nice guy who's in love with his next door childhood friend Carly D'Amato (Alex Frnka). Jay Cartwright (Zack Pearlman) is the joker of the group. Neil Sutherland (Mark L. Young) is the idiot of the group.
This is an MTV show remake of a British import. I couldn't care less about how it compares to the original. It works pretty well for what it is. It's basically a TV version of American Pie. Lots of sex talk, lots of inappropriate humor, lots of gross out jokes, just not the nudity. The actors do the characters well. It's fine for what it is and is better than many of their other shows.
This is an MTV show remake of a British import. I couldn't care less about how it compares to the original. It works pretty well for what it is. It's basically a TV version of American Pie. Lots of sex talk, lots of inappropriate humor, lots of gross out jokes, just not the nudity. The actors do the characters well. It's fine for what it is and is better than many of their other shows.
- SnoopyStyle
- Sep 16, 2013
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- vengeance20
- Mar 23, 2013
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