St. Trinian's (2007)

Screw what the IMDB thinks, this one's a gem - I saw it on the listings page yesterday morning and it felt like a get out of jail free card. I'm not a huge fan of mainstream comedies in general (does this even count as mainstream?), but the 2007 adaptation of Ronald Searle's iconic St. Trinian's comic strip never fails to raise a grin.

The basic premise hasn't changed much since the 40's; there's a girls' school somewhere in the southern half of England where the students and staff are all cheerful delinquents, and all each new iteration has done - all it needs to do - is offer a new setup for the general mayhem.

Prior to my first viewing of the film I had my worries, of course, given that in the UK at least, Searle's cartoons seem to have originated that whole sexy schoolgirl thing with the short skirts and artfully-tied tops. I soon discovered, however, that the St. Trinian's girls are more than a match for any man who crosses their path, and that their sexuality is a relatively minor weapon in their considerable arsenal.

The main reason I enjoy this one is that it's both a heist movie and an ensemble piece, each of which individually are more or less guaranteed to put me in a good mood. Here, we have a broad cast of clearly-delineated characters coming together to cheat in a TV quiz in order to steal a famous painting, and honestly, what could be more fun than that? The cast is populated by a wide variety of British talent, with twentysomethings taking the vast majority of the student roles. There's more than enough space for those who can no longer plausibly wear gymslips, though, with top-notch talent like Celia Imrie and Lena Headey serving as the staff. Rupert Everett takes the role of headmistress Camilla Fritton, turning a character who could have been utterly cringeworthy into a rounded individual just as loyal to her students as she is to them.

You could argue that the feminism present is firmly of the Spice Girls variety, I guess, but St. Trinian's feels far more empowering to me than Spiceworld ever did. The Spice Girls were all about marketing by ingratiation, I suppose, while it's abundantly clear that the St. Trinian's mob don't care what anybody thinks. The film sparkles with mischief, cheerfully tossing in throwaway lines that will leave parents of observant kids with some very awkward questions to answer. Little girls have the right to be awkward, though, and it's a shame more films don't acknowledge this.