–(Source: Total Film)
When it comes to playing a funny asshole, Steve Coogan is a marvel to behold. And outside of playing “himself” (see Tristham Shandy, The Trip and a great segment in Cigarettes and Coffee costarring Alfred Molina for that), his most celebrated asshole persona is Alan Partridge, a character whom Coogan co-created with Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep) and has been the focus of several successful radio/TV programs in the UK that have only reached cult status in the US.
Beginning as a spoof of superficial, out-of-touch broadcasters, Partridge became a richer comic character as he became more popular in the UK. And after years of being revised and revisited by Coogan and various cowriters, Partridge is now firmly in his middle age and a lode of buffoonery. His exploits are fueled by cultural insensitivity, petty hubris and a lack of self-awareness. Yet, he sees himself as suave as Roger Moore and as graceful as the melodies to ABBA’s “Fernando” or “Knowing Me, Knowing You.”*
–(Source: Red Carpet News TV)
Now Alan Partridge has his own eponymous movie, which was released a while ago in the UK as Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and will be theatrically released in the US (and is now available via many VOD services.)
If a criticism is to be made of AP, one could say that it’s just an extended and embellished episode of the TV show I’m Alan Partridge (as is the case with many movies that are adaptations of current TV series.) But considering that any episode of IAP is hilarious and top-notch, this is a good thing. And the movie’s premise is ingenious: Partridge– an incredibly tactless man– has to mitigate a hostage crisis– a situation in which lives depend on tactfulness– at the radio station he works at. And it doesn’t help that the hostage-taker is Pat (Colm Meaney), a disgruntled broadcaster who’s Partridge’s colleague and, unbeknownst to Pat, Partridge threw under the bus.
–The film’s opening credits sequence (sans credits.) (Source: British Comedy Guide)
But this scenario is mostly a way to deliver jokes and gags, many of which made me laugh while some even put me in a fit. Throwaway lines like “it was a jingle genocide” or “you can keep your Jesus; Neil Diamond, for me, will always be King of the Jews!” come often,** and there’s a bit of physical comedy that made me giggle like I was on nitrous oxide. So AP defied my jaded sensibilities and gets my stamp of comedy approval.
Recommended.
*Some Alan Partridge trivia: 1) as he’s a big fan of the actor, Partridge considers Roger Moore’s Bond to be the best; 2) Partridge named his short-lived talk-show after “Knowing Me, Knowing You” (which is the first Alan Partridge TV series) and his son after “Fernando.”
**Another favorite line of mine is when Pat lifts the blinds on a studio window to show Partridge where the hostages are and Partridge replies, “it’s like a zoo from Planet of the Apes!”