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Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Theatrical film poster.
Directed by	Gurinder Chadha
Produced by	Scott Aversano Lynda Obest Gurinder Chadha Michelle Fox
Written by	Louise Rennison (novel) Paul Mayeda Berges Gurinder Chadha
Starring	Georgia Groome Eleanor Tomlinson Aaron Johnson Alan Davies Karen Taylor Sean Bourke Liam Hess Kimberley Nixon Tommy Bastow Manjeeven Grewal Georgia Henshaw
Music by	Joby Talbot
Cinematography	Dick Pope
Editing by	Martin Walsh Justin Krish
Studio	Nickelodeon Movies
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	25 July 2008
Running time	96 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
Gross revenue	£5,024,597 (UK)[1]

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film is based on two popular teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers or, as it was sold as in the U.S., On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God.

It is a coming of age story, following fourteen-year-old Georgia Nicolson, played by Georgia Groome as she tries to get a boyfriend and throw the greatest fifteenth birthday party ever, while trying to keep her parents (Alan Davies and Karen Taylor) happy.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is set in Eastbourne, a coastal town in England; it was filmed there and in Brighton, with interior work filmed at Ealing Studios, London.^[2] The film was released on 25 July 2008 in the UK, where it is rated 12A for moderate language and sex references.

Plot

Georgia (Georgia Groome) asks her parents for a birthday party at a club, but they refuse. At school, she and her friends, "The Ace Gang", Jas (Eleanor Tomlinson), Ellen (Manjeeven Grewal) and Rosie (Georgia Henshaw) spot two new students, handsome fraternal twins Robbie (Aaron Johnson) and Tom (Sean Bourke). Georgia and Jas visit the boys' mothers' store, where Jas flirts with Tom and Georgia is lovestruck by Robbie.

Georgia is heartbroken to find that Robbie is dating her rival, Lindsay. To compete, Georgia goes to Peter Dyer (Liam Hess), a schoolmate who offers "snogging lessons" to girls. She then conspires with Jas to pretend that her cat, Angus, is missing. As Robbie and Georgia "search" on the beach, they get to know each other better. Georgia learns more about Robbie's band, The Stiff Dylans, in which he plays bass guitar. The plan nearly goes awry when Jas is distracted by Tom's football game and accidentally lets Angus escape, but Robbie manages to catch the cat. A relationship soon blooms between Jas and Tom, but despite Georgia's best efforts, Robbie remains with Lindsay. She is further frustrated when Peter becomes infatuated with her and will not leave her alone. To top things off, her mother and father start fighting as her father packs for a new job located in New Zealand.

Georgia's mother hires an interior designer named Jem, whom Georgia's mother and remaining single friends go crazy over. Georgia worries that her parents' marriage is deteriorating. In addition, the Ace Gang believes that since she began dating Tom, Jas has been ignoring her them. When they confront her while changing for P.E. they discover she has begun wearing a thong, something they had sworn never to wear. During P.E., Lindsay knocks Georgia down and threatens her to stay away from Robbie. When Robbie confronts Lindsay, Lindsay insincerely apologizes. Georgia discovers her mother has been going out to drink and dance with Jem and is disgusted.

At a party, Peter attempts to kiss Georgia. Her attempt to dodge him causes her to fall into a bush and exposes her underwear the crowd. Embarrassed, Georgia rushes out of the party. She later sees Robbie at the community pool, where they have a play fight and end up kissing. Confused and torn between Lindsay and Georgia, Robbie abruptly leaves. Georgia decides to go out with Dave, Robbie's friend, in order to make Robbie jealous. Through Jas, Dave discovers her plan and refuses to speak to her. Georgia and Jas get into a fight at school, in which Georgia kicks and injures Jas. When Robbie asks about the fight, Georgia claims that Tom wasn't good enough for Jas. Hurt, Robbie lashes out and calls Georgia a "kid" who only thinks about herself.

At home, Georgia overhears a conversation between her mother and a friend which makes Georgia believe her parents will divorce. Crying, Georgia attempts to speak with her father's boss to ask that her her father be transferred back, but isn't able to reach him. She then asks her mother if they can move to New Zealand. She starts to transform herself, giving up magazines and takes up Sudoku, yoga, and health food. She also dyes a lock of her hair. Wanting to make things right before her departure, Georgia apologizes to Robbie. Robbie tells her that he has dumped Lindsay and still cares for Georgia, despite her selfish actions. He asks her out, but Georgia tells him she is moving.

On Georgia's birthday, her mother grants Georgia's wish to go to a real club. After arriving, Georgia finds it is surprise party that Jas and her mother had been secretly planning. Jas and Georgia make amends. Georgia also learns that Jem is gay and that, after hearing about Georgia's visit, her father's boss has given her father a job in Eastbourne. Lindsay briefly disrupts the party to insult Georgia, but Robbie defends Georgia and kisses her in front of everyone.

The movie concludes as Georgia and her family eat breakfast. In a voice over, Georgia talks about feeling thankful for the good things in her life including her parents, her friends, and her new "sex god boyfriend." She goes outside to meet Robbie, and they walk down the boardwalk holding hands and snogging.

Cast

• Georgia Groome - Georgia Nicolson
• Aaron Johnson - Robbie
• Karen Taylor - Connie Nicolson
• Alan Davies - Bob Nicolson
• Eleanor Tomlinson - Jas
• Georgia Henshaw - Rosie
• Manjeeven Grewal - Ellen
• Kimberley Nixon - Lindsay
• Sean Bourke - Tom
• Tommy Bastow - Dave The Laugh
• Liam Hess - Peter Dyer
• Eva Drew - Libby (Georgia's sister)
• Steve Jones - Jem
• Camilla McGarty - Pamela Green
• Imogen Bain - Headmistress
• Miss Stamp - Ingrid Oliver
• Emma Tierney and Natasha Tierney - The Bummer Twins

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.^[2] Others, such as the gig scene, as well as some interiors and exteriors for Georgia's house, were filmed in and around Ealing Studios, London. Areas in nearby Middlesex were used as well, such as Bishopshalt school in Hillingdon and the Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge.^[4] Other sites include locations in Teddington and Twickenham.

Reception

The film was the first (and only) production by Nickelodeon Movies to receive a PG-13 rating in the United States. (Other Nickelodeon films have been rated G or PG.)

The film garnered mainly positive reviews, with critics noting the strong central performance of Georgia Groome, who has been praised for her "super-engaging"^[5] and "endearingly natural"^[6] performance. The film was in the top 40 in the UK and Ireland and Malta 2008 box office.^[7] The filmed has earned $14,924,919 as of January 2010,^[8] which includes 10.6 million from the UK alone.

References

External links

• Official website
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at the Internet Movie Database
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging at Allmovie
• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) at Rotten Tomatoes