Alan Partridge has, and will forever, hold the title of most British comedy character ever. Perhaps it's my skewed vision of the world, but the middle aged, self-obsessed, despicably obtuse, high and mighty caricature is just perfection. You're now going to assume I loved this film, because I love garish knits and sharp humour, you'd not be far off. I have few complaints about this film aside from the fact that it doesn't outstay it's welcome, at 90 minutes you might not be getting your money's worth but they squeeze every minute with as much fun as they can. To be honest it gets a bit ridiculous after a certain point and the material could have probably been condensed into an hour long TV special, but hey it's still got some quality jokes in there. I could just watch this all day to be honest, I love a bit of Alan Partridge, especially when Michael the Geordie is around, and let's be perfectly honest, the laugh per minute ratio is greatly increased when there is a northern accent anywhere in British comedy, not that I'm personally biased or anything.
Anything with Armando Iannucci's name within spitting distance of it is usually guaranteed slick black humour of the highest nature, skewering those with the biggest of egos and none have bigger egos than the behemoth of Alan Partridge. Iannucci has been busy making Veep over the water (which is beyond fantastic) so it's nice to see him coming back to something so good, you know, now that The Thick of It is officially over and Malcolm Tucker has received the keys to the TARDIS and whatnot...
To be honest, I saw this about a week ago and whilst I laughed raucously at many of the painfully inappropriate statements made, and one fantastic jingle, it hasn't stayed with me as much as I'd have liked. I want to be quoting the damn thing, I want to want to see it again and cry laughing with each rewatch - but Iannucci and Alan Patridge aren't those kind of comics. They don't spout catchphrases or make easy to repeat jokes, they have biting retorts and precision timing at hand which I lack in the day to day. I'm not desperate to watch the film again, there are sections that are not to my brand of humour, a nudity scene springs immediately to mind, but the jokes that made me laugh did so quite loudly in the cinema. Mainly from Michael the Geordie, and there was a couple of shit jokes in there too (pun intended.)
It's a funny film, and it's great to see Steve Coogan effortlessly portray such a brilliant character, but it's not a particularly memorable outing, which is a shame.
