Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2014)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Anyone who has seen the Alan Partridge character before on the telly will be familiar with the shameless scrooge like narcissist he portrays. So the movie inevitably attempts to capture Partridge in his extremes against the backdrop of the changing media world which in this case seems to be gravitating towards corporate takeovers and shallow media content that allegedly placates the tastes of a younger target audience. The switch of late to the 'Mid Morning Matters' format has suited the Partridge style well and the irreverent style of banter it espouses certainly lends itself aptly to the picture, giving the film a more deliberate type of spontaneity that few other comic films of late can boast.So Partridge on such a stage as this gets to demonstrate the evolution from what one is familiar with to a greater awareness as to how his actions effect other's. Depending on ones tastes or mood this film will be viewed with varying amounts of aha.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a decent movie with a reasonably well developed storyline and a good cast. It's nothing outstanding, but it definitely brings in several big laughs, Steve Coogan is the highlight of the movie, as he seems completely dedicated and still very happy playing Alan Partridge, a character he has been portraying for several years now. It's a very hit and miss comedy and, sadly, there are much more scenes that miss, it all felt like the script was written at the spur of the moment, so many jokes are very mediocre and felt like any person could have came up with them. The rest of the cast, besides Coogan, didn't seem very pushed about this film, they probably just considered it a paycheck, particularly Colm Meaney, who didn't seem like he wanted to be there at all, which was a shame as he had one of the most important roles. It's a very average comedy that is worth a watch if you have some time to kill, but you certainly shouldn't be going out of your way to see Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. Alan Partridge's life is put at risk when he becomes a hostage at his own radio station. Best Performance: Steve Coogan Worst Performance: Felicity Montagu

A familiar face in Britain but a virtual unknown in the States, comedian Steve Coogan has made his name in his home country portraying a fictional radio talk show host by the name of Alan Partridge. Since 1991, Coogan has performed his act on both radio and TV, and now he's branched out to his first feature-length movie entitled "Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa" (just "Alan Partridge" in the United States).In the film, the station where Partridge works is facing serious cutbacks due to a corporate takeover, changing audience tastes, a drop in listenership and bailing advertisers. Though Partridge himself survives the ax, the same cannot be said for his fellow broadcaster, Pat Farrell ("Hell on Wheels' Colm Meaney), who, upon learning of his dismissal, completely flips out, holding his co-workers hostage at gunpoint while the goofy and inept Partridge is sent in by the authorities to help negotiate a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Maybe with our history of gun violence, we're a trifle more sensitive to this sort of thing here in America than they are in Britain, which may explain why some of the laughs tend to catch in our throats at times, particularly when Farrell is threatening to take out a bunch of his own innocent and understandably distraught colleagues as retaliation for the wrong that's been done to him. That being said, the stylish mix of satire, slapstick, black humor and social commentary that Coogan and his various co-writers have come up keeps us chortling through most of the movie. Coogan makes Partridge a likable everyman character, bemused and skeptical without being hard-edged and cynical. The supporting cast is engaging as well. Offbeat and funny.

Directed by Declan Lowney, "Alpha Papa" stars Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, a mean-spirited radio presenter. When a disgruntled man holds a local radio station hostage, Partridge uses the incident as a means of selfishly rekindling his career.You'd think "Alpha Papa's" premise allows for some biting satire in the vein of Billy Wilder's "Ace in the Hole", but no, Lowney and Coogan are uninterested in such things. Even as a black comedy, the film repeatedly chickens out. "Alpha Papa" should be vile, should be dark, but Lowney instead continually pulls away from all the film's brilliantly demented possibilities. Partridge hiding in a toilet like a swine, selfishly sacrificing co-workers, risking lives for fame...these are sequences which should paint Partridge as a magnificently despicable jerk. Instead the guy gets a redeeming ending, all his social ineptitudes are bizarrely ignored and everyone around Partridge gives him a free pass. Why?6/10 – See Coogan instead in the farcical "A Cock and Bull Story".