Successful television comedy hasn’t always had an easy transition onto the big screen. Bottom (1991-1995) is one of my favourite television shows but Guest House Paradiso (1999) was one of the worst films I’ve ever seen and I only remember laughing once. It missed out what made the show fun and as such was a dull mess in comparison to say The Inbetweeners Movie (2011), which retained the same formula of the show.
A lot of my friends idolise Alan Partridge but I only discovered I’m Alan Partridge (1997-2002) a few years ago and have been recently watching Knowing Me Knowing You (1994-1995) and without doubt these shows are legendary examples of British comedy at its best.
I am a huge fan of one of the show’s co-writers, Armando Ianucci, and his ability to bring a hilarious balance of silliness, cringe worthy moments and the misguided righteous onto the small screen, nicely personified in Alan.
The plot is as follows: Radio station North Norfolk Digital has been taken over by a ruthless and bullying media conglomerate. The new management plan to fire either Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) or Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney) from their schedule and Pat gets the push due to Alan’s influence. The station is being rebranded as Shape’, and at the launch party Pat takes the staff hostage and the police coax an unwilling Alan into being the negotiator. That’s all you really need to know but to sum it up, this film it is ruddy brilliant and utterly hilarious.
If you’re a fan of Alan Partridge: see this film. If you love British comedies: see this film. If you want to see what is hands down the funniest film of the year, well, you get my point.
As you’d expect it doesn’t have that TV camera look or the canned laughter, but that isn’t important at all as I’m please to say that Alpha Papa excellently makes the transition to the big screen and comfortably feels like one long episode featuring all of your favourite characters, formula and dialogue, which works so well in the series.
I’ll try not to spoil it but Michael (Simon Greenall) makes a welcome return and is captivating as the clueless Geordie who produces one of the film’s most memorable and disgusting scenes. Alan’s long suffering PA, Lynn (Felicity Montagu), gets a chance to shine and develop her character and it’s a joy to see. She is the yang to Alan’s yin and grounds his ego from potential tragedy. She gives the film some of its most heart-warming moments in her relationship with Alan, where they are dependent upon each other to remain grounded.
And we have the institution that is Alan Partridge. It’s hard to describe the character: someone we love to hate, the anti-hero, the voice of reason, an utter idiot and emotional reject. But we love him nonetheless. This film is all about Alan and you will be giggling along every time he’s on screen, which gratefully is for most of the film. The faces he pulls, the interaction with other characters and the dialogue is hilarious and without doubt this is Coogan’s film. The idea of a feature length movie has been floating around for a while and he has admitted that he would only do it when it feels right, so you will be relieved that this outing isn’t just a cash in’.
It’s not all jokes though, we have a few truly heartfelt moments involving Pat, his loss and his motivations. Meaney brings some dramatic weight to the proceedings and makes Pat more than just a grieving man who’s gone off the rails. We also have a few moments of real suspense during the siege, a blossoming romance, convincing angst between some characters and a bit of confrontation and soul searching. None of this feels out of place and draws you deeper into the film and the characters.
Unlike a lot of films I review for Movie Muser this film had me engrossed right until the end and I recommend watching it right to the end of the credits for a few audible laughs.
In essence this is a story about change and coming to terms with what life throws at you, and the decision to rise up against injustice or to side with the enemy. It ticks so many boxes but ultimately is one of the funniest comedies I have seen and I look forward to re-watching it again.
On the special features front, I was engrossed by Hectic Danger Days: The Making of Alpha Papa’, which is a fantastic making of that sheds light on the film from production to its suitable premier in Norwich. This featurette is named after one of the film’s potential titles, as discussed in the excellent teaser trailer, and I’m pleased to know that Steve Coogan would have preferred it to be called Colossal Velocity.
At 34 minutes this is an insightful and entertaining look at all stages of the film and interestingly looks at how uncomfortable Coogan was during the first few days filming, but found his feet soon after and it shows in the finished product. We have the scripting process and the many re-writes made the night before filming a scene. More importantly we have a look at all the characters, including the perspective that Alan, Michael and Lynn are three broken people who are drawn together.
As you may expect with this film there are a wealth of deleted scenes and alternate takes, which are included on the disc. Some, like the extended disabled toilet exchange between Alan and love interest Angela (Monica Dolan), are hilarious, while other extended scenes between Alan and Lynn are just harsh, and the alternate opening isn’t as good but has its moments.
Also included is a hilarious blooper reel, but unfortunately I couldn’t find the excellent teaser trailer where Alan, Sidekick Simon (Tim Key) and a co-worker discuss potential titles, such as The Norfolk Fracture, Gun Bird and Chap of Steel.
This can be however found of the Asda exclusive 2-disc edition, which also features interviews with Steve Coogan, Rob and Neil Gibbons and Declan Lowney, an exclusive Q&A with Armando Iannucci, a premier day sizzle reel, Irish screening introduction , trailer, TV spots.
Overall Verdict: A treat for fans of Alan and one of the best British comedy films ever made. It’s not perfect but you’ll be too busy laughing that you simply won’t care.
Reviewer: George Elcombe