Growing up you always watched the St Trinians films on a Bank Holiday afternoon and they were great fun, especially with Joyce Grenfall and Alister Sim on board. When I heard of a revival I was dubious, 'Wildcats of St Trinians', the last film hadn't been that good and had lost the innocence of the earlier black and white films in a strange way. All told though this was absolutely marvellous, capturing the anarchic spirit of its' illustrious forbearers. So many good things, the hockey game, the disreputable St Trinians staff, Lena Hedly almost unrecognisable from her Terminator role as indeed is soul singer Paloma Faith as the leader of the goths, Stephen Fry, always a delight, Colin Firth brilliantly spoofing his Pride and Prejudice sex bomb image.Obviously this is the ideal film if you have a school uniform fetish. They avoid anything distasteful and succeed in having their cheesecake and eating it with the girls sex appeal by resorting to the original films trick of dividing St Trinians into only 2 forms with nothing in between. The upper sixth are all a bunch of pouting, gorgeous dollybirds in sexy schoolgirl outfits who are 20 if they're a day and the lower fourth are all a bunch of feral little monsters in shapeless gymslips who barely qualify as human never mind female.However the wonderful Rupert Everett absolutely steals the show and no mistake. He's utterly terrific as the Margeret Thatcher/Boudica like Miss Firtton who actually loves her girls and is loved by then in return AND as her dissolute brother Carnaby. The relationship between Miss Fritton and her niece is beautifully played and as a whole you know that the girls all love one another, the older one's taking care of the younger in a very sweet manner. Bad stuff? Russell Brand, need I say more? Mischa Baron's cameo is also terrible and very obviously shoe-horned in to give the film some appeal in the American market. But all told these are minor points and it's wonderful entertainment all round.

There was a short run of films in the 50s and 60s based on Ronald Searle's wonderful cartoons of St Trinians, a school populated by girls ranging from the short and stout to the tall and leggy, linked by fishnet stockings and a generally ratty state of dress. Their behaviour is not good, but tends towards the naughty rather than the wicked. And the staff are, if anything, worse.And now, 40 years later, the school puts in another appearance. Head teacher Camilla Fritton is played by Rupert Everett in drag (Alistair Sim did likewise in the 50s) in a nod to the past. In fact, the film does a good job of remaining faithful to the premise of the past while updating the trimmings.The story doesn't matter: suffice it to say that the girls are up to no good. They are well cast, and it is interesting to see a number of careers in their very early days (Gemma Arterton, Juno Temple, Tamsin Egerton etc.). It is also a joy to see Colin Firth playing it straight while wickedly sending up his Pride And Prejudice image.There is a ramshackle air to this movie, but that hangs over from the original St Trinians and suits the movie well. It is fun, and entertaining from start to finish.

I don't often write reviews but after watching this again in my room with a bowl of crisps on my knee I feel the urge too. I laugh all the way through every time, I know exactly whats coming now as well, believe me i've seen this loads but every time I feel a little down in the dumps I just turn on this film and the happiness just bubbles up in me.I think the storyline is brill and I also love the pranks the kids pull, they are just so imaginative! I often wish i'd had the guts to do some of the things they did whilst I was at school but unfortunately being the goody too shoes I was I have to say I chickened out every time an opportunity arose.The make-over scene is one of my favourites, I love the stereotypical outfits each category of students wore and I think all of the girls looked brill in it. It makes me want to pull out my old school skirt and start slapping on the liner! The second one is also brill so if anyone reading this has not yet seen the second, then give it a go, i'm sure you'll laugh out loud!

ST. TRINIAN'S seems like an awful bust, unless the extremes of slapstick and borderline taste are your bailiwick. It is a film that comes across as a cartoon that never can get out off the page - what one would expect when the 'writer' is a committee (Piers Ashworth, Jamie Minoprio, Nick Moorcroft, Ronald Searle (!), and Jonathan M. Stern) and the direction is shared (Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson). St Trinian's is 'school' for dysfunctional girls (nerd to goth) run by a wild headmistress Camilla Fritton (Rupert Everett in bucktoothed drag plus fuddy English gent's clothes as Carnaby Fritton). The school is a major disaster zone and one Geoffrey Thwaites (Colin Firth) is sent to correct the issues. The threat of bankruptcy spins its own dire consequences and the 'inmates' of the school find a way to correct that. The major surprise is not in the plot but instead in the fact that some of Britain's finest actors agreed to participate in this mess: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Lena Headey, Toby Jones, Anna Chancellor, Celia Imre, etc etc could have their choice of about any film casting and win Oscars and kudos instead of boodos. It gives pause...Grady Harp