Alan Partridge is back in the hotly
anticipated Alpha Papa. Steve Coogan
is on top form as Partridge, a man who, most would say, has had a colourful life.
He fronted his own TV show, had a nervous breakdown was gripped by
chocolate addiction and attempted a comeback with his autobiography ‘Bouncing
Back’ which was subsequently pulped. Here we meet Alan as a local radio
broadcaster for North Norfolk Digital, a station which has undergone a revamp
as ‘Shape’. As part of this new image, bosses
require one of the older DJs to be sacked. To save himself, Alan suggests late
night DJ Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney). Farrell loses his job and takes revenge by
holding the station at gunpoint.
Alan works well on the big screen
helped by the action heavy plot (with a sprinkle of romance) and a script that
is written by Coogan, Armando Iannucci and brothers Neil and Rob Gibbons who collaborated
to produce Mid-Morning Matters. For
fans, this is textbook Alan. Laughs come by the minute with one-liners you can
add to your Alan repertoire (‘Tonight we’ll be asking have you ever met a
genuinely clever bus driver?’) and the welcome return of old favourites: PA Lynn
(Felicity Montagu), Geordie
friend Michael (Simon Greenall) and radio nemesis Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell).
If that is not enough then the film has plenty of slapstick humour with Alan awkwardly
finding himself inside a portaloo and getting caught by the police with his
trousers down.
However, this does work for those
who have not seen Partridge before. Coogan emphasises the ego-centric and
desperate nature of Alan as he uses the siege as an opportunity to relaunch his
own career. This film is a testament to how well Coogan and the team have
developed him over the years. We can
laugh at Alan and his exploits but we cannot help feeling sorry for him, as
after all, he is just trying to make it, like the rest of us. And it seems that
by the end, he does get a happy ending, as he drives off into the sunset with
his hostage love interest and her two children.‘ Spiceworld’.
All in all, this film is worth the
watch for fans and newcomers alike, Alpha
Papa is ‘Back of the net!’
Click below to view the trailer:
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