Eddy and Patsy have returned!

Looking to get even more of the outrageous British duo of Edina and Patsy? Absolutely Fabulous Special gives you not one, but two specials that have all the decadence and craziness of the original TV series from the BBC. The two specials are separate and can be watched individually.

Unlike anything found on TV in America, it would almost be counterproductive to go into too much detail with Absolutely Fabulous because when you attempt to explain it, the fabulousness of the series is tarnished.

The humor emanates from the outrageous of the two main characters, Edina (Eddy) and Patsy. The two are the most fabulous people they know and laughs build as the Bolly flows and the cigarettes burn down. In the original TV series, the stories often focused on Eddie’s relationship with her Daughter Saffy, who is as conservative and button down as her mother is wild, crazy and liberal. It doesn’t help that Patsy hates Saffy ruining the time she has with Eddie, because like she has said to Eddie, “I’ve known you longer than your daughter.” Patsy describes Saffy as the “little b*tch troll from hell,” and has burned her several times with a cigarette (as Eddie points out to Saffy, “never turn your back on her).

British humor tends to be an acquired taste and you either love it or you hate it. If you’ve ever laughed at a Monty Python sketch, enjoyed an episode of Are You Being Served, or like any other British comedy, it’s likely you’ll enjoy Absolutely Fabulous.

I’ll break it down by the two specials included on the DVD.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout

Produced several years ago (96), The Last Shout was at the time, the closing of the Absolutely Fabulous series. It turns out that AbFab (as it’s known by fans) has continued on with a new season after The Last Shout (on Comedy Central), the new special and just recently, a new season of the show on the Oxygen network.

Eddie and Patsy need to take a holiday because they are working too hard and where better to go then Val D’Isere to be with all the fabulous people. However, things aren’t quite as fabulous as they thought they would be when they get there – namely they seem to be the only ones there. What follows are some attempts at skiing and snowboarding by Eddie, plenty of drinking, a fight between Eddie and Patsy and plenty of outrageous outfits. All the while at home Saffy is smitten with a new boyfriend who asks her to marry him and she says yes.

When Eddie and Patsy return to London and discover that Saffy is getting married, Eddie gets the PR machine into high gear and makes the wedding THE event (Eddie runs a PR firm, or at least attempts to run it with her assistant Bubbles). Of course Eddie has to be in a Lacroix and the antics follow. Let’s just say that in the end the wedding event doesn’t work out quite the way that Eddie had planned.

Absolutely Fabulous in New York

Eddie always fantasizes what her long lost son Serge is doing and where he is (she can’t remember when he left though). Whenever she has tried to find him in the past, she has always been stymied and unable to find him. In typical Edina fashion, she has idolized him (remember the old episode where she opens his room that had been locked since he left?) and used the thought of him as a wedge against her daughter Saffy.

With that in mind, Patsy is going to New York for Fashion Week and Eddie has agreed to go along. She discovers that Serge is in New York and that he is gay. She cannot be more overjoyed. Not only has she found out where her son is, he’s gay and “all her friends are gay.” It takes some digging (and drugging of Saffy so she doesn’t wake up), but Eddie and Patsy gets Serge’s address out of Saffy’s address book.

So off to New York Eddie and Patsy go with the information that they were able to get on Serge. After they land in New York, the scene in the limo as they go from the Airport to the city is classic AbFab. Before finding Serge, they go to Fashion Week. Patsy is opening a new store and is looking for fashion for it. However, all the two manage to do is get drink after drink in the various tents and then get to one or two shows before they’re back to having more drinks in the fashion tents.

When they start to look for Serge, it turns out that the address they had was for a support center and a character played by Whoopie Goldberg is the head counselor. Eddie and Patsy try to get Serge’s address and end up getting married and get the address where Serge works.

When Eddie and Serge finally do meet…once again it’s not quite what Eddie bargained for. Serge isn’t gay enough – he’s more of a male version of Saffy! However that’s not going to stop Eddie from trying to make her son gayer.

I’ll leave the end to the imagination – but I was laughing so hard that I was crying.

DVD Extras

In addition to the two specials, the DVD contains bloopers and outtakes from both. There is also a chapter guide to both specials.

So…

Any fans of AbFab must have these two specials. They fill in the blanks between the older seasons and the new episodes that are on Oxygen. They also stand on their own and make for a little over two hours of Absolutely Fabulous entertainment.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age