St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (PG)

Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson (106 mins), starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Gemma Arterton, David Tennant

A cavalcade of schoolgirls filled out the press screening of this movie, and very welcome to it they were.

It's back to business at St Trinian's – less a school, more a fancy-dress carnival – where the headmistress, Miss Fritton, is leader of the revels and, in Rupert Everett's performance, the sole source of any laughs. (I counted my own: two.) The plot concerns a precious ring, a villainous chauvinist played by David Tennant and a cheeky alternative view of Shakespeare's true identity. Would the film-makers be surprised to learn that those schoolgirls, eager in anticipation, were far from raucous by the end?

'St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold' is out today nationwide