When a minor character has the one funny bit out of the entire film, you know it wasn't written well. One line, out of the entire film, was funny.Bo and Marshall are especially terrible, thanks to the script. They shined in a prior bit, with the televangelism. Too bad they're given nothing of value to work with this time. Lumley is wonderful but she's given nothing funny to say or do. Even the bits she does have are often completely recycled. The entire thing seems like a long commercial for a film that is going to be made sometime in the future, when Saunders decides to care enough to work at it like she once did, long ago.I have written funnier (prototype) AbFab scripts myself in practically no time. How much time did Saunders put into this? 15 minutes?The format has nothing to do with the TV series. As I said, it's like a long commercial — a trailer masquerading as a movie. The filming is all very pretty and glamorous but nothing interesting happens. All the characters are looking back at themselves, obliquely, instead of charging forward into new development.Lumley clearly is begging for a vehicle for her enthusiasm and talent. I can write one; Saunders cannot. It's bizarre, too — because at her peak she was the better writer. The original series, except for the last episode or two, was so brilliant.Aside from the aforementioned singular funny line, which aged badly upon seeing the film a second time — there was one scene-stealing bit of body language humor from an even more minor character. Too bad that the scene collapsed into bad writing in short order.

Honestly I wasn't expecting much but nothing prepared me for this. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is easily one of the worst films I have seen in my life. And for those who don't know me that is saying something since I am quite old and have seen a lot. I had hoped it would at least be on par with Zoolander 2 but sadly it's far worse. The biggest problem of the film is that it simply is not funny. Too many jokes that miss their mark even when I was trying to be as open and receptive as possible. I really tried hard to get into this film and let the silliness overwhelm me which was one of the strongest elements of the original show. However here the craziness is toned down considerably. Even the crudest jokes weren't of the same level as in the show. I get that the majority of the cast have gotten older and that perhaps they felt that they should act more their age although that would go directly against the premise of the show and defeating it's purpose. Whatever the reason or motivation it destroyed most of the fun. Then there are the cameos. I don't even know where to begin with those. None of them made an impact. Sure it's always nice to recognize famous faces but if you would have them left out you would not have missed them. Nothing remarkable has been done with these names and that is a big shame if you ask me. The acting was acceptable and for the most part Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders played out the characters as we know them. Little less energetic and kinetic maybe but that is understandable they have gotten older of course. Although it has to be said that Joanna Lumley still looks great. I wished the same could be said about Saunders. She messed up her face so much with I presume botox that it looked like she had some mask on or something similar. Very weird and super distracting. Absolutely Fabulous the show was witty and sharp. This movie is the opposite. It's a total waste of time and I can't think of a single excuse to warrant a view. So don't. AVOID!

I own every DVD of every AbFab show, and I still enjoy them today as I did when they were on BBC. I wish I could rate this a 10, but I am being extremely generous rating it a 6.What went wrong: Jennifer Saunders wrote a weak script devoid of the essence that made the show what it was in the 90s. It actually started out pretty good. It opens at a fashion catwalk show, and the stumbling duo make a funny entrance. The film kept up that tone until Kate Moss lands in the water. Then, it's like we are watching another movie. Saunders reverts to a strong story-line, and the movie begins to go south from there on. The original show was never so much about the story as it was about the interaction between the cast members, the situations they found themselves in, (like in the Courtroom after being busted for something usually relating to drugs) as well as the slapstick antics pulled off by the fidgety, head shaking Saunders and the tramp, her pal Lumley; both were on a 24 hour buzz from the 70s, consuming every drug in the universe 24/7 to the point where walking was a full time job. Of course we can't ever forget about Bubble (Edna's PA). I haven't decided whether she was under utilized in this installment, or out to lunch. Either way, it was disappointing to me, because she was one of my favorite characters on the TV show. I also thought Saunders overdid the Botox. She was almost expressionless and appeared to be plastic with little of her former energy. When she fell out of her car as she did a thousand times in the TV show, we laughed. Now, it looked like it hurt, and it seemed difficult for her to do. Perhaps she was actually too fat at this point in her life, to comfortably play her fat self character Edna.The direction by Mandie Fletcher was embarrassing to watch. The script played out so convoluted, and disjointed, it might have been directed by Barnum and Bailey. However, the HD cinematography was spectacular, colorful, and beautiful to watch; the wardrobe was glorious, and so were locations chosen for the film.Also on the plus side, it was great to see the old gang back together again, and a special shout out to June Whitfield, who at 92 years of age, gave the best performance of the lot, and had lost none of her character's essence. Her performance, along with Julia Sawalha's surprising singing abilities, were bonus surprises that I truly enjoyed. I really hate to see AbFab go out like this, but you reap what you sew, and Saunders fell a bit short of being a master seamstress in this attempt at a modern day AbFab.

It started very slowly, and at first I was really worried that this was nothing but a cash grab...after they "killed" Kate Moss, though, it really took off! In lieu of a "review", I've got bullet points:*Stella McCartney was totally hilarious, but only if you know your Beatles *It saddens me to say, but the least funny person in this film is...BUBBLE??? Let me put it this way - in "AF:tM", she is the equivalent of Jack Black in "Tropic Thunder" *Saffy's tirade is hysterically funny...but only if you watched the series *I recognized Barry Humphries in his 2 seconds as Dame Edna, but NOT as Charles...I didn't realize it until the credits *I LOVED the homage to "Some Like it Hot"!!