Review #687: 'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' (2013)

An Alan Partridge movie has been talked about and prayed for (by his fans) for years. The natural inclination when transferring a small-screen British sitcom character and moving them to the big screen is to take them out of their comfort zone, and involving them in some big event or disaster that usually ends up with them going to the U.S. for one reason or another. Yet with Partridge, his comedy is rooted in his small-town ideals and small-minded ignorance. You can't take Norfolk out of Partridge, nor can you take Partridge out of Norfolk. Thankfully, Norfolk is just where he stays, and his creator and inhabitant, Steve Coogan, along with frequent collaborator Armando Iannucci have created a script that is well worthy of everyone's favourite Abba enthusiast.

North Norfolk Digital is being taken over by conglomerate headed by shady suit Jason Tresswell (Nigel Lindsay). Station veteran Pat Farrell (Colm Heaney) fears losing his job and goes to Alan, his only 'friend' at the station, for help. Alan, naturally, gatecrashes a board meeting where, upon realising he could also face the sack, convinces them to 'Just Sack Pat'. Pat is fired, but returns at the office party with a rifle to take everybody hostage. Alan manages to flee, but is soon called in by the police, at the request of Pat, to act as a go-between. Alan obliges, and soon sees the opportunity for a career revival.

For a movie, things feel relatively low-key. There's no big stars shoe-horned in to increase ticket sales, nor is there any explosive action to speak of (although there is a hilarious Alan daydream where he imagines a shoot-out). This feels just like the TV show I'm Alan Partridge, only with better cinematography, and is all the better for it. Stars of British comedy normally find it difficult to transfer their success to the big screen (just ask Morecambe and Wise, Harry Enfield, and more recently, David Mitchell and Robert Webb) mainly because they overreach themselves, and end up losing what was so charming and appealing about their characters and comedy in the first place.

This is Alan as we know him - socially awkward, appallingly selfish, and unapologetically self-contained. It's not scream-out-loud funny, but it never really was (with some exceptions - "Smell my cheese!"). What makes Alan so fascinating, hilarious and strangely addictive is the fact that he is just like us, albeit more extreme and absurd. Yet Alan doesn't have the ability to stop and consider his ludicrousness before he says lines such as "We're asking what is the worst 'monger? Iron, fish, rumour, or war?" Coogan is fantastic in the role - he may be one of the finest comic actors this country has ever produced - making Alan somehow sympathetic even though the film doesn't offer any kind of straight-forward redemption for his character. But would we want him to, or would we prefer to see him forever embrace his eccentric nature? Or more importantly, does he deserve it?


Directed by: Declan Lowney
Starring: Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Nigel Lindsay, Sean Pertwee
Country: UK/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie