Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Story

When Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie begins, Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) and Edina (Eddie) Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) are down on their luck. Eddie’s ex has cancelled her credit cards, her autobiography has just been rejected by the publishers, and her PR business is in decline. The ageing Patsy is no longer attracting men, which means her source of income has gone. Eddie plans to resurrect her career by making Kate Moss her new client. In her haste to speak with Kate at a fashion show, Eddie accidentally pushes Kate from a balcony into the river.

Kate Moss is presumed dead and Eddie is the target of hate mail and Twitter trolls. Eddie and Patsy flee to the south of France, hoping to convince a wealthy old flame to marry Patsy. Unfortunately, Charlie (Barry Humphries) now enjoys the company of many scantily clad young women on his yacht and doesn’t need Patsy. Patsy’s next idea for making money is to disguise herself as a man and woo a wealthy old widow. The law catches up with Eddie and Patsy, and it seems that their fate is sealed – until luck intervenes in the form of a living Kate Moss.

Themes

Drug use; superficial lives; income and finances; ageing; gay and transgender issues

Violence

There is some violence and accidental harm in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, mostly played for laughs. For example:

Patsy falls out of a car. She also walks into a door.
Eddie trashes the office when her book is rejected.
A brick is thrown through the window of Eddie’s house.
An aggressive female cabin steward tasers Patsy for smoking on the plane.
Patsy and Eddie crash their car into a river and nearly drown.

Content that may disturb children

Under 5
Apart from the violence and accidental harm described above, there’s nothing in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie that’s particularly scary for children in this age group.

From 5-8
Apart from the violence and accidental harm described above, there’s nothing in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie that’s particularly disturbing for children in this age group.

From 8-13
Apart from the violence and accidental harm described above, there’s nothing in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie that’s particularly disturbing for children in this age group.

Over 13
Nothing of concern

Sexual references

There are many sexual references in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. For example:

There’s about Patsy taking Jon Hamm’s virginity.
Patsy talks about Hugh dropping his trousers and getting a ‘prossie blow job’.
Eddie asks Patsy why she didn’t marry any of the men she slept with.
Patsy talks about her sexual experiences.
Charlie says he misses pubic hair and hates all those Brazilian jobs.
Charlie says to avoid the jacuzzi, which is a ‘smoothie of old sperm’.
Eddie’s daughter goes to a transvestite bar where she asks for help. This is a very ‘camp’ scene with men highly made up and in fancy clothes.
Characters talk about going to a ‘lesbo’ party.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie shows a lot of use of substances in this movie. For example:

Patsy smokes continuously throughout the movie.
Patsy and Eddie both drink to excess, out of bottles and in all sorts of places.
Patsy and Eddie smoke a bong and get high.
Many characters drink, smoke and vape at parties and events.

Nudity and sexual activity

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie has some partial nudity, including a view of a woman’s bare bottom from behind.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: Chanel no. 5, TK-Max and Top Shop.

Coarse language

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie has frequent coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is a comedy about two sad, ageing women who are still trying to ‘live the dream’. It is full of cameos, clichés and stereotypes and has an unoriginal storyline. Even the cameos fail to save the day. It might attract viewers of the TV show of the same name but is likely to disappoint.

The themes, coarse language, sexual references and substance use make the movie unsuitable for children under 15 years.

The main messages from this movie are that shallowness and superficiality will ultimately bring you down.

You might want to talk with your children about the mean-spiritedness shown by the main characters when they to extract money in devious ways. Although this is supposed to be funny, it’s a terrible thing to do.