ALAN PARTRIDGE : ALPHA PAPA FILM REVIEW

 

A'ha! {sorry had to say that..}

 

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa stars Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, a {fictional} DJ who lives in Norwich and is a big screen adaptation of the very popular 90s comedy series.

 

I myself was a big fan of Alan Partridge and have watched all 3 series many times and found it very funny. Alan's awkwardness and arrogance made for some very uncomfortable situations and instead of laughing with him, you end up laughing at him. Alan is, at least in his own mind, a local "celebrity" and his air of self importance and the overall strangeness of Alan is what I love the most. He is what I would call, a loveable idiot.

 

So the plot is very easy to follow {spoiler warning if you don't want to know the plot but its just a comedy so I don't think it matters too much does it?}

Alan works for North Norfolk Digital presenting his radio programme "Mid morning matters" along with his co-presenter Simon. The ratings for the station across its many shows have dropped significantly and when Alan learns that a new media outlet is going to take over their station, he finds out that he could potentially lose his job and therefore jeopardise his 'fame'. The new company are not fans of the older presenters and want to make the station more appealing to a younger audience and two names are discussed in a board meeting as to whom to sack, those being Alan Partridge and Pat Ferrell, a fellow DJ whose does a late night chat and phone-in show. Needless to say, Alan persuades the new company to sack Pat, after promising Pat and many of the fellow DJs at North Norfolk Digital he would fight for all their jobs to be safe. Pat says his goodbyes to everyone including the very sheepish looking Alan, but Pat soon returns with a shotgun and holds the entire building hostage. When the police are informed, they want Alan to be the communication go between  them and Pat, and Alan sees this as a chance to become the hero, and what follows is a hilarious comedy with plenty of Alan's attempts to save the day.

 

I will say right now, after i saw the trailer for the film, i was not expecting it to be good at all. However, this film surprised me and I loved it! Fans of Alan Partridge will also see old favourites retuning such as Alan's trusted helping hand, Lynn and she has a number of funny exchanges. Also, Michael the Geordie has a small role in the film and I found him very funny in the few scenes he was in. There is a lot of awkward humour in this film and that is what the series was about too. I enjoyed Pat as well, he was the 'villain' but he and Alan's exchanges were very funny and they have good comedic timing and good chemistry together. Yes Alan does steal the film, as he obviously would being the main character and the person we most want to succeed and save the day, but I felt every other significant character was used well and very rarely did the jokes fall flat. The jokes in the film can be considered crude but that has been a major part of the TV series to be honest so i was expecting it going in.

 

I would say this is the best comedy I've seen so far this year without a doubt. This film, along with This is the end, are the two shining lights among a dark dismal showing for comedy this year. Fans of the TV series will enjoy the film and even if you have never seen any Alan Partridge comedy, check it out anyway as it is a genuinely good and funny British comedy.

 

My Rating - 8/10

 

Positives - Alan, Pat, Lynn, Michael, good camerawork, and most importantly very funny!

 

Negatives - If you're not a fan of the TV series you wont enjoy this I don't think, couple of jokes fell flat, ending was okay but could have been better.

 

Thanks again everyone for checking out my review. I hope you enjoyed it. Comment below let me know if you have seen this film and if so, did you enjoy it? If not, why not? Did you like the TV series? Let me know whatever you want! {subscribing to Google+ is needed to comment}. If you enjoyed the review please +1 on Google+, share this on other blog sites, tell your friends about the review, follow me on Twitter @MARRAMD. My next review will be coming soon so feel free to come back and check out my other reviews if you want!

 

Take care :)