Alan Partridge

Steve Coogan delivers one of his very best screen performances in the long-anticipated big screen debut of the title character that has been part of Coogan’s repertoire on TV and radio for years. The film has Partridge as a radio host working for a company being bought out by an unfeeling corporation. When Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney), one of Alan’s radio co-workers, gets the boot, Pat comes back with a shotgun and takes everybody hostage. Alan winds up as an intermediary between the police and Pat, trying to negotiate a way out of a crisis and keep his job at the same time. Coogan is always funny in this film. Sure, he got a lot of press for last year’s Philomena, and we film lovers dug him in 24 Hour Party People and Tropic Thunder, but this movie is the true showcase of his sharp comic timing. He just has a way with smarmy afterthoughts that makes him the king of the understated wiseasses. As somebody who has done a lot of time in radio, I can rank this one with Howard Stern’s Private Parts as movies that best present the industry. Private Parts was made before computers took over, an unfortunate radio reality that Alan Partridge has a lot of fun with. The movie definitely plays with the fact that old school radio has gone away to be replaced by robots. If you like British humor, this movie will certainly do the trick. Nearly every line of dialogue has something to giggle at, due in large part to Coogan’s stellar delivery.