Fat Slags is a 2004 British independent gross out comedy film based on the Viz comic characters of the same name.[2] Despite the relative popularity of the comic strip (and its celebrity cameos), the film was panned by critics.
| Fat Slags | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ed Bye |
| Written by | William Osborne |
| Produced by | Charles Finch Luc Roeg |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | John Sorapure |
| Edited by | Mark Wybourn |
| Music by | David A. Hughes |
Production |
Artists Independent Pictures |
| Distributed by | Entertainment Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 73 minutes[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $105,091 |
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The film chronicles the misadventures of Sandra (Fiona Allen) and Tracey (Sophie Thompson), the famously vulgar and crass Fat Slags of the title. The pair leave their hometown of Fulchester for London, aiming to sleep and drink their way to fame and fortune.
On the day they arrive in London, internationally renowned billionaire Sean Cooley (Jerry O'Connell) suffers a blow to the head that renders him temporarily insane. When he spots Sandra and Tracey on a daytime chat show, he falls for their larger-than-life outlook. A media sensation is brought about when Cooley forces fashion designer Fidor Konstantin (James Dreyfus) to base his upcoming collection on the Fat Slags.
Sandra and Tracey take the United Kingdom by storm, hitting #1 in the record charts and inadvertently winning the Turner Prize. As far as the press is concerned, fat is the new black. This new trend leads to Cooley's assistant, Paige, gaining major weight. Throughout their journey into the world of fame, the Slags maintain their unique and endearing vulgarity, coupled with an innocence that draws the British public to their cause.
But in private, jealousy drives a wedge between them as they vie for Cooley's attention. Only when he regains his mental faculties and turns on the girls that they realize that their friendship is the only real thing they have in their mad new world.
In August 2003, it was announced a feature film adaptation of Fat Slags was slated to begin shooting scheduled August 10.[4] Fat Slags was part of a wave of sex comedies slated for production in the U.K. alongside other entries such as Sex Lives of the Potato Men, School for Seduction, and attempted Carry On revival Carry On London which was soon cancelled.[4]
Fat Slags was universally panned upon release.[5] John Plunkett, writing for The Guardian, stated "It has plenty of gross-out stuff, but chucked in with an eerie lack of enjoyment or conviction. Depression seeps out of the screen like carbon monoxide."[6] Adrian Hennigan for the BBC wrote "This painfully slapdash comedy - with caricatures instead of characters - lurches from one crude, staggeringly inept set-piece to another with the subtlety of a three-legged elephant."[7] Graham Dury, the comic strip's creator, stated that Rita, Sue and Bob Too was a more accurate live action depiction of the comic book characters. Dury told the BBC that he was so appalled by the film, he would stop drawing the strips,[5][8] though the strip did not in fact stop. British film historian I.Q. Hunter, discussing the question "What is the worst British film ever made?" listed Fat Slags as one of the contenders for that title.[9]