A big enough hit in the UK to have already spawned a sequel, this is the latest reboot in a series of films based on the famous Ronald Searle cartoons about an anarchic girl's school. St. Trinian's keeps the mordant comedy and blithe cross-dressing of the original 1954 version and cranks up the volume; these girls aren't just mean, they're running a full-blown criminal operation, complete with bootlegging, torture and high explosives. (Think Gossip Girl gone Goth.) A stellar cast of Brit actors seems to be having a perfect lark of a time, with Rupert Everett hilarious in the dual role of horse-faced, chipmunk-toothed headmistress Miss Camilla Fritton and her ne'er-do-well brother Carnaby; Colin Firth as the British minister of education, who is determined to make an example of St. Trinian's if his past liaison with Miss Fritton doesn't trip him up; Russell Brand as the school's resident Fagin, teaching his charges the finer points of grand larceny; and Gemma Arterton as the sexiest, smartest schoolgirl of all, whose solution for saving the school from bankruptcy is a museum heist worthy of Thomas Crown. It's all stylishly outlandish and full of in jokes (a Damien Hirst knockoff in the school's art room, a doggie named Mr. Darcy who keeps humping Colin Firth's leg), though you might have to watch it twice to decipher Everett's intentionally unintelligible upper-crust accent (must be those chipmunk teeth). And do stick around for the closing credits to hear Fritton/Firth's plummy rendition of "Love Is In The Air." Wed. Oct. 14, Tampa Theatre, 9 p.m.
More reviews at the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival page.
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2009.