Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Special (1994)

One of the most popular comedies in BBC history this wickedly inventive comedy tells the tale of fashion femme fatales Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) and their endless quest for sex love and eternal youth. In Absolutely Fabulous New York Edina discovers that her long lost son Serge is shacking up in the city that never sleeps when the degenerate duo head to the Big Apple for a shocking reunion. In The Last Shout Edina is thrilled to learn that her sweet but frumpy daughter Saffy is engaged to the suave and wealthy Paolo Carlo.Running Time: 140 min.System Requirements:Running Time 150 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 794051238122 Product Description

If you are a fan ...

I bought collection for my girlfriend.
She loves it, as does her niece (who borrowed it and has not given it back yet ... lol).
I used to watch the series on public broadcasting. It's no Faulty Towers but it's one of the funnier English comedies. August 30, 2008

Could be a lot more Fabulous.

I've been a huge "Absolutely Fabulous" fan since Comedy Central started airing in my area and luckily, at the time, "Ab Fab" still in it's first run here in the states. Back then, it was very fun to watch "Ab Fab" because while it had frequent commercial breaks, they were also very short, sometimes often running only one ad! That changed quickly.

Anyway, easily the first three seasons/"series" of the show where the peak and everything else kind of pails in comparison, where slightly or greatly. In the case of "Absolutley Fabulous: Absolutely Special", the distance each of the two specials has from those episodes affects their greatness.

"The Last Shout" was meant to be that but it has no real satisfying ending. It came rather shortly after "Series 3", which seemed to wrap up loose ends with a funny ending that shows a possible future. In
"The Last Shout", the main stories have Edina and Patsy vacationing in a ski resort town in order to mingle with celebrities (the celebs aren't there, for whatever reason) while Saffy meets the possible man of her dreams. Eddie and Patsy pack in the laughs (Eddie is wackier than ever with 60s music scenes that pop up anytime she is stressed while Patsy struggles to perform the simplest function by attending a meeting and saying one brief statement on pants). The gags, side stories and behavior bring in the laughs even if the dominating Saffy storyline (which runs through two parts while the ski trip is only in the first) gets to be sort of annoying. The overbearing Paolo is impossibly snarky and it almost gets to be a little bit dark even for Ab Fab (remember the way Patsy treated Saffy....this feels much worse and more serious). Still, overall while the "movie"/special (divided into two large episodes) would rank low among seasons one through three episodes, those episodes were so strong that it's still really good. I personally loved it. A great cameo here is made by Marianne Faithful who plays God (Marcella Detroit, a white soul singer, plays an angel who plays guitar and sings background on a stellar version of "We Got To Get Out of This Place" with the ageless Faithful).

Not working so well is "In New York" (the US title for this shorter special called "Gay" in the UK). It feels out of place in the "Ab Fab" catalog, even though it's the follow up to the 2002 "Series 4", which was kind of a modestly entertaining return (and that's being very kind). What happened here? What is this? We finally get a chance to meet the often discussed Serge, Eddie's much loved but never seen son, but the build up leads to a major letdown not because he turns out to be lame but because we expected so much more with his return but there is no payoff in laughs (it doesn't work as drama, which I think it tries to be, either). The story starts with Patsy going to New York (and begging apparently jobless Eddie to come) for a big fashion fiasco with a lot of designers presenting new things but of course the trip for Eddie becomes about finding the son she finally discovers has been living in New York for years while Saffy and Marshall made excuses for him. It is a return to New York for the two and for my money, when they visited New York during the first run (not sure what season/series), which was basically a trip to take a picture of a door handle Eddie wanted for her kitchen, it was one of the funniest episodes ever! Here, there just isn't much to do, even if they are in the middle of a fashion frenzy. Two main stories but no payoff for either! The chemistry between Patsy and Eddie seems to be lost and so are the ideas. There are laughs (not as frequent and not as hard), but the story is awful. I have no idea what the Saffy "bit" is with her hiding in a cupboard and watching people. She's not even a character we root for anymore even a little like we used to becuase the tension isn't there. Saffy is slightly happy that Eddie might find Serge and smother him in order to let her go, but does Eddie even care about having Saffy there in the house anymore. That's very unclear. This kind of shows a dead end for Saffy, if not the series. And everything is very predictable and stale. Yes, Eddie's son is gay and that's always been her dream. But he works in a bookshop (I did like her being "allergic" to books) and for some reason Serge has a boyfriend who is the stereotype his mother always wanted but he never wanted to be (the boyfriend is not predictable, but just plain not logical). Whoopi Goldberg makes a lame cameo as LBGT (although she can't even get the title right) counselor who makes her really money presiding over gay marriages. She basically stumbles through this part and it's very disappointing for somebody so talented. Debbie Harry makes a cameo for literally a second (the soundtrack seems to be made up of obscure Blondie tracks, probably because it's set in New York) AND it's a waste as Eddie basically pushes Serge up to say "Debbie, meet your God son" while she is singing (she seems surprised and doesn't say a word). Debbie is an actual actress, too...she was probably capable of doing a good scene or two much the same way Faithful did in the prior special. "In New York" is "Ab Fab" as it's laziest. I can't imagine Jennifer Saunders (or Joanna Lumley's) heart is in this. I recently went back and watched some episodes of "Series 5" and both the special and the series suffer from an unnecessary and baffling focus on secondary characters (but especially giving Marshall and Bo skits). In this special, for some reason, now uber-Christian Bo tries to push Marshall into a homosexual date because he said something about everyone having gay feelings...it's the type of painful time filler that ends up being repeated when the show comes back. "Ab Fab" is Eddie, Patsy, Saffy and sometimes Grandma with a good quip or two. It doesn't need much. The episode where the three characters are trapped in a room is one of the best! "In New York" was the step in the wrong direction for "Ab Fab" that lead the series astray. I kind of want to give Jennifer the benefit of the doubt here and think that maybe it was shortened for time and could have had a fuller more developed (more logical) story. "Ab Fab" is ab absurd comedy but it never forced it's viewers to make stretches like this. Remember how well paced the series last two episodes in "Series 3" where? This is the total opposite. While not much happens, for some reason after Eddie meets Serge, it's all rushed nonsense and excuses for mayhem with an eye rolling ending that thankfully did not effect even the weak "Series 5".

I have "The Last Shout" (which maybe should have been the last shout) on VHS and I think that's the way it's going to stay. No need to get this just for "In New York" (also as noted, the video version actually has Marianne singing "Wheel's On Fire" in the title credits). The fact that "Absolutely Specials" cost nearly as much as the stand alone early series is kind of crazy. You are much better off with any one of those. And if you still got a VCR, you can find "The Last Shout" on tape for nearly nothing used. You're much better off. For completest only.

September 29, 2007

Hate To Say It, But A Letdown

First off, let me say that I LOVE AbFab. But, this isn't the best of it. 'The Last Shout' is the better of the two, I think, but neither really finds the old timing and freshness.

'In New York' was completely disappointing (except for the segment where Whoopi Goldberg "Marries" Edina and Patsy: one has the sense that THAT scene was inevitable.) Meeting Serge was a letdown. In the commentary on Season 4 for the program about Saffy writing a play about her life, Jennifer Saunders said we would never see the real Serge. I think she was right in that thought - and should not have produced him in this program. Of course, he turned out to be gay, and the exact opposite of his crazy mother. Saffron is Edina's opposite as well, but at least she gives as well as she gets. Serge, on the other hand, looked vulnerable, and didn't seem to have the self-esteem to stand his ground. Showing Serge wasn't funny and didn't advance the series. Probably should not have been done.

The best part of 'The Last Shout' was having Marianne Faithfull play God (a role she reprises in Season 4). Most of the rest of it seemed forced.

Sorry. I really wanted to like these programs more than I did. September 4, 2007

Absolutely, positively FABULOUS!!

As an avid fan, I own almost all the Ab-Fab DVD's, so I was happy to see one listed that I didn't have and had never seen. I took a chance, since the price was so reasonable, and am I ever glad I did!! While Edina and Patsy are always over the top, they are both in rare form on this one. This DVD is a MUST HAVE for your collection. I laughed literally from the opening scene to the very end. This is one of the funniest Ab-Fab's EVER!! From the dolphin, to the snowboarding, to Saffron's boyfriend, to the long lost son "Serge" and everything in between, you will LOVE this DVD and if you're anything like me, you'll watch it again and again!! Edina and Patsy...you are awesome!! Thanks for making me laugh in a stressful world. May 16, 2007

Those Crazy AbFab Gals

You can say loads about bad service but very little about good service... except: GREAT SERVICE!!!

Hanley1
March 27, 2007

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