St. Trinian's

One of the highest-grossing independent British movies of recent years, St. Trinian's School for Girls (2007) recently made its debut jump to DVD on Jan. 26. A fast-paced, entertaining film, St. Trinian's is a D.E.B.S.-like romp through girlhood, complete with shrunken heads, catapults, and all manner of explosives.

The plot follows a group of devilishly wicked young ladies (divided into cliques) that rules their educationally bankrupt school with chaos and anarchy. Upon learning that their beloved institution is close to foreclosure, however, the students must band together to save St. Trinian's (and themselves, from the possibility of having to attend a "normal school.") "It's no use relying on the grown-ups," Head Girl Kelly (played by Gemma Arterton) says. "We need to sort this out ourselves."

With the help of Flash (a black market pro who fronts the girls' moonshine business, played by Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Russell Brand), the students devise a plan to steal Vermeer's classic masterpiece "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." And of course, the only way they can gain access to the painting is to win an academic competition.

During the course of this adventure, St. Trinian's is under the scrutiny of Minister of Education Geoffrey Thwaites, played by Colin Firth, who calls the school "a beacon of ill discipline and needed correction."

Rupert Everett's in-drag performance as St. Trinian's headmistress Camila Fritton is not to be missed. The romance between Camila and Geoffrey (and Camila's dog, the aptly named but ultimately doomed Mr. Darcy) adds a hilarious layer to the main plot. Everett is utterly amusing and astoundingly adept at staying in character (even when playing Fritton's brother Carnaby). I wish the same could be said for Mischa Barton, whose five-minute appearance -- chock full of over-annunciations that do nothing to replace a well-acted British accent -- is almost completely unnecessary. Arterton's sultry portrayal of irresistible Head Girl, however, immediately made me want to go back to the Catholic high school from whence I graduated.

Directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, St. Trinian's seems to make an effort to add B-list celebrities to the cast, apparently for the press attention. While Lena Heady's enthusiastic performance as a wet-behind-the-ears English teacher (who has no idea what's coming to her at St. Trinian's, naturally) is certainly well-intentioned, it falls far below the bar set by Heady's sizzling Sapphic portrayal of Luce in 2005's Imagine Me and You.

While the supporting actors leave quite a bit to be desired, Everett's fabulous job -- as well as Talulah Riley's on-point portrayal of new student Annabelle Fritton -- make the film worth watching at least once.