Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa review

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03/09/2013

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa review

A charmingly rubbish 13 days after seeing this film, it's finally time for my Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa review.

"Waterway to have a good time. Cheers!"

I was expecting for this to be THE most awkward film ever. Like watching 90 minutes of David Brent from The Office. It is not, mercifully. The film has it's awkward moments but the reason it never quite reaches the wince-inducing heights of I'm Alan Partridge or Knowing Me, Knowing You is that it treats the character of Alan Partridge differently.

Unlike the desperate television shows (and to a lesser extent Mid-Morning Matters), the film doesn't treat Alan as a victim. In the shows, bad things happen to him and it's his attitude and reaction against the face of everything going wrong that is so painful to watch at times. The film actually treats Alan with much more respect. Yes, he's an aged, out of date radio DJ working for North Norfolk Digital but the film gives him opportunities for heroism, redemption and fame.

I would strongly argue that this is one of the main reasons that the film is no where near as cringeworthy as the televisions shows that feature Alan Partridge. In fact, apart from a few scenes where it gets a little awkward, the film is entirely watchable. It's a really good film.

First and foremost, it is funny. Really, really funny. The character of Alan Partridge has been around for so long that it's hard to imagine any further comedic situations are possible with him. And yet, his most recent outings, whether Mid Morning Matters, I Partridge (We Need to Talk about Alan) or Welcome to the Places of My Life show that the character has hit a stride.

And the film continues with a rich, varied and very sharp sense of humour. The humour is distinctly Alan Partridge and yet it is just funny. His mannerisms, his sense of humour, his view of people and world inbue this film not only with a great sense of comedy, but also act as to further open up the character himself. The other cast besides Coogan as Partridge are great also, it's nice to see Felicity Montagu as Lynn Benfield, Simon Greenall as Michael the Geordie, Tim Key as Sidekick Simon and Phil Cornwell as Dave Clifton come back from either I'm Alan Partridge or Mid Morning Matters. It's nice and grounding to his back catalogue to have characters back from his past and well placed within the film. The new main addition is that of Colm Meaney as also over-the-hill radio DJ Pat, the film's antagonist. His character provides a nice foil against Alan's character, as well as a level of further emotional involvement and a small level of unhinged menace. It's a great role that isn't played too hard for comedy whilst also not being serious and dangerous enough to go against the overall tone of the film.

It's also a charmingly British, a small, unimportant piece of small city adventure. There's armed police and chases and a seige and hostages and guns and fights and yet it's just silly in so many ways. It's a really nice, small story. It all makes sense and several points of the film also remain surprising and really very funny.

I very much enjoyed this and look forward to seeing it again.

Trailer:

Posted at 07:19 PM in 2013, Current Affairs, Film, Review, Trailers, Weblogs | Permalink

Tags: 2013, Alan Partridge, Coogan, David Brent, Felicity Montagu, film flare, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Lynn Benfield, news, Phil Cornwell, radio DJ, reviews, Simon Greenall, Tim Key

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