Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging : Shropshire Star:

Based on the best-selling books by Louise Rennison, Gurinder Chadha’s new film is a comic portrait of growing pains filmed on location in Brighton and Eastbourne.

For the target audience - teenage girls - this light-hearted slice of angst and alienation will strike a chord as the socially awkward heroine takes kissing lessons and endures the humiliation of luminous fake tan.

The script sensibly washes out its mouth, reserving its most choice language (slapper, slut and slag) for comic effect, while discussions of boys and sex reflect the protagonists’ inexperience and innocence, referring affectionately to cleavage as ‘bazoongas’.

Teen-speak captures the spirit and energy of hip, modern youth (’I knew she was from Vulgaria!’), while the fresh-faced cast delivers natural, endearing performances, which prove adolescents are just as stroppy today as they ever were.

Parental woes momentarily cast a dark shadow over the heroine’s vacillations before a fairy-tale resolution that ensures every girl gets her guy.

Georgia Nicholson (Georgia Groome) is a typical 14-year-old: permanently embarrassed by her loved-up parents (Alan Davies, Karen Taylor), desperate to fit in at school and frustrated by her inability to find a boyfriend.

Thankfully, she has her best mates Jas (Eleanor Tomlinson), Rosie (Georgia Henshaw) and shrinking violet Ellen (Manjeeven Grewal) to lift her spirits.

When handsome brothers Tom (Sean Bourke) and Robbie (Aaron Johnson) move to the area, Jas sets her sights on Tom while Georgia vows to win the heart of Robbie.

Unfortunately, her sworn enemy Slaggy Lindsay (Kimberley Nixon) also has designs on the new boy, as well as the best cleavage in the entire year group to distract his attention.

Friction between Georgia and her nemesis intensifies when both girls decide to hold their 15th birthday parties on the same day, forcing classmates to choose between them.

Meanwhile, Georgia watches in horror as her father is forced to leave home for a lucrative job in New Zealand, on the understanding that the rest of the family will move south once he is settled.

The separation drives Georgia’s lonely mother into the hunky arms of a thirty-something builder called Jem (Steve Jones) but is there more to the handyman than meets the eye? Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging is energetic and charming but has very limited appeal outside of the target audience, even for ardent fans of T4 host Jones who spends most of the film topless.

Groome manages to be both goofy and heartbreaking, compelling us to fall in love with her body-conscious teen well before Robbie comes to his senses.

Tomlinson, Henshaw and Grewal sketch out their characters in limited screen time but Johnson is a tad wooden in comparison.

Thankfully, he loosens up when his ’sex god’ takes to the stage as bass player in the Stiff Dylans, a fictional four-piece whose upbeat rock-pop numbers including the catchy ‘Bitch In Uniform’ pepper the soundtrack.