Kebin and Perry go Large, revenge of the nerds, American pie. Even as a young t early middled man, the Hangover trilogy has all dominated the go large and party frat boy fuckwits of my film life. Kevin and Perry are probably the most symbolic as this sees the reality of the girls they pursue and ‘hilariously’ banter at. But Kevin and Perry are always daft and innocuous. The reality for girls is the consequence that the film just hits you with while never being puritanical or eroding the heart and humour of their interplay.
It’s easy to start with this film and love the girls. Their snappy and sharp and for all the love island aspirations show a real wit and ingenuity. You think these three will be together and have each other’s back throughout, whatever happens, there will be drinks and chips and quips and pools.
It soon becomes apparent for all their ‘knowingness’ their maturity leaves a lot to be desired. They have data but not comprehension of their situation at times, exploited and evolved as Tara, the key figure, finds herself diminished over the film rather than finding ‘sex’ the empowerment and agency she felt it would be.
I place sex in quotation marks because, frankly I would not say it is. I had a situation in a previous job, where I felt a young girl’s boyfriend was coercive and abusive. I didn’t like the way he constantly ‘hung’ on her keeping her tight to him, all I could do was make the space and do what I could to make her know she could come to me when she wanted. It took time, as all I could report ultimately was
‘I didn’t like the way he looked at her’
The inevitable came and he tried to shove her publicly. She came to me and spoke about it. I called the safeguarders and the last I saw it was years of her life. They had been dating for two years. So since she was 14. Her mother liked him. Her mother never saw it, the girl asked me why. I replied . “because he knew your mother was watching”
I look back at that point, and I feel the talk of how girls are all-knowing and stuff, often by other women, frenemies. Is played out here. It is the kindness of strangers with Tara that puts her back on track with her whole self, for a time. Other leads like Badger ensure it is not a simple dichotomy of abusive men and victimised girls. There is a hint that her life won’t be hurt by the end, and that there are true friends still behind her.
It never jars and it shows how commonplace this sort of assault is, the fact I find it hard to articulate as a grown man, its manipulation, force. It is not ongoing consent. It’s not from a clear mind. Certainly, there is a later incident f rape jsut thrown in as a casual opportunity. And predatory chances.
It’s a harsh film, but it’s an honest one. And the notion that this is ‘or by some of the characters, or the apologies do come out, but it’s never whitewashed. Neither is there any consequence for the perpetrator which is the world’s reality.
But for a world so hard to articulate at times, this is a brilliant job and well worth seeing out. It turns out being a teenager now is not as different as we think. Sadly it’s more of the same.
See it
The Irish Indian Times. 
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