It’s fortunate that Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie has those last two words in its title, because otherwise viewers might not realise that it was supposed to be a film, as opposed to a television special that had been knocked off in a hurry to fill a hole in the Christmas schedules.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie doesn’t bother with any of that nonsense. Relying on the fondness its viewers may already have for the characters, and labouring under the misapprehension that a glimpse of Jean-Paul Gaultier or Stella McCartney is inherently hilarious, the film seemed perplexingly threadbare and rushed to me, a long-time admirer of the series.
“Anybody who wanders into the cinema without being a fan will be absolutely baffled”