St. Trinian's is probably never going to top anyone's list of greatest films of the 21st Century but there's no denying it is funny. It could so easily have been terrible, but it isn't, thanks to a witty and clever script that pays tribute to Ronald Searle's original cartoons as well as to the classic "Belles of St Trinian's" Writers Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft have successfully reinvented St. Trinian's for the 21st century, avoiding the obvious pitfalls the school could so easily have been turned into a combination brothel and crack den instead creating a world in which the girls can run wild. A world in which it seems no-one bats an eyelid at ten year old girls playing with explosives, but God forbid they should ever take up smoking.
Rupert Everett is in fine form as the headmistress Camilla Frinton though admittedly he's no Alistair Simm (then again who is?) and Colin Firth is a more than capable straight man, quite happy to take pot shots at his own career. More surprisingly Russell Brand makes a very effective Flash Harry, While distinctly different to the original in both appearance and manner to George Cole, there his something indefinable about his performance, he could almost be the grandson of the original Flash.
However where this film really succeeds is in the girls themselves. Talulah Riley is the heart and sole of the film as Annabelle Fritton, slowly blossoming from shy awkward daddy's girl into red-blooded St Trinian, and Gemma Arterton as head girl Kelly commands the screen in every scene she's in. Between them Riley and Arterton steal the move from under the noses of the more experienced Everett & Firth.
But it's not just them, a combination of astute casting and good writing ensures that all the students come across as characters in their own right from twin terrors Cloe and Holly Mackie through to the 'Posh Totty', brilliantly underplayed by Tamsin Egerton, Amara Karan and Antonia Bernath.
In years to come this film will be remembered not for the sight of Rupert Everett in drag but for giving screen time to so many of the next generation of starlets.
