Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

Rating: 4.5/5

Steve Coogan's bumbling 'radio dee-jock' persona Alan Partridge has become something of a local hero to the people of Norfolk. Despite Coogan obviously setting his character in Norwich so the idiot would feel 'at home,' we can take the joke, it seems, as Cinema City was packed of fans young and old, ready and rearing to see their beloved hometown on the big screen. Having watched rather little of Alan Partridge, I was really unsure as to how funny I would find this movie. One review headlines Alpha Papa 'so funny, it hurts,' and I was surprised to find this to be true. I laughed so hard, I began to grow self-conscious about it!

Partridge is, as ever, within the walls of North Norfolk Radio, holding such classic call-ins as 'Which monger is worse - fish or war?' and feeling the pressure as new, young, hip radio shows and presenters are threatening his age-old traditions. When his disgruntled colleague Pat Farrell (he's Irish, by the way) is fired from North Norfolk Radio, he crashes the office party and holds up a bunch of his co-workers. Alan is allowed out to negotiate, and ends up the face of the biggest siege in Norwich history.

Of course, with a guy like Alan the key pawn in the siege, we have a lot of laughs to come. Some are in the dialogue: "You're acting like a real madam - and not a Parisian one, one in a terraced house behind a train station!" and some are in side-splittingly funny sequences. When Alan attempts to climb in, and then back out of a high window, and his trousers get caught on the latch... the laughter is uncontainable.

The atmosphere at Cinema City was buzzing. We were all psyched to see Partridge hijacking a car in a location just up the road from us. Norwich is a really great city and, humorously or not, we undoubtedly got that additional enjoyment out of Alpha Papa for our love of the place. But wherever you're from, this is a very funny film. People of all ages were rolling about laughing - I rarely see such unanimous contentment from a comedy.

Of course, there is little to say about specifics of the film making. It is not produced in such a precisely comical manner as, say, Hot Fuzz, in which elements like cinematography, editing and score are of significant importance. Coogan's now second-nature delivery and very good script writing are what carries this movie through, and on this occasion, it is enough.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is energetically and lovingly delivered, with some very nice performances from its entire cast, some devilishly funny material throughout, and a wonderful aftertaste to the audience, who unfailingly leave the theatre in high spirits.