Smell the Movies
Smell the TV
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Year: | 2013 |
| Country of origin: | UK |
| Director: | Declan Lowney |
| Genre: | British comedy |
| Starring: | Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Sean Pertwee |
| Rating: | 4/5 |
| IMDB link: | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469021/ |
| Tagline: | No tagline |
| Favourite line: | "....I'm getting a handle on it now." |
The nation's favourite narrow-minded Norwich-based media whore is back and, this time, he's got a shooter.
The plot:
With Alan's career still on something of a downward trajectory, news breaks that North Norfolk Digital, the radio station upon which he shares a show with Sidekick Simon (the fabulous Tim Key) is getting a re-brand. Gone the stuffily familiar phone-ins - name you're favourite condiment - to be replaced by music and energy and, terrifyingly, youth.
Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney) has more reason to fear than most. Outdated, longer in the tooth even than Alan, and betrayed by Partridge in an appalling act of selfishness, soon Pat is out on his ear, but he's not prepared to go without a fight.
Returning, armed with a shotgun, Pat is demanding his old job back and, before you can say Jurassic Park, Alan's caught in the thick of the madness, too.
TV sitcom conversions to the feature length format are fraught with failure. For every Inbetweeners, there's a One Foot in the Algarve, and nobody wants that, surely?
Fortunately, no such decline in quality here, and Coogan, Baynham, Iannucci and pals have managed to forge something fresh, yet familiar enough to please.
Following their absence from Mid Morning Matters, it's encouraging to see the return of Simon Greenall as Michael, as well as Felicity Montagu as long-suffering PA Lynn, and both are given enough to do to warrant inclusion without feeling forced.
Though a comedy, there are serious themes touched upon, here; loss of youth, the increased sense of irrelevancy and impotence that comes with getting older, the "corporatisation" and homogenisation of beloved institutions.
Not funny in themselves, maybe, but handled well, bringing a tinge of the bittersweet to proceedings, too.
So, a successful affair all round, that will certainly stand up to multiple viewings and, best of all, we got to see Coogan's Mangina.
Won't convert any haters, but fans will definitely approve.
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