Film Diary 2013: Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

The most successful transitions have come from TV show teams, like Monty Python, Kids In The Hall and Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright, using their creative partnership to develop something new, retaining the energy of their previous work.

Having successfully conquered radio, television and literature, it seemed that cinema was the only medium really left for Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge character, but the worry was that the pressure of making something 'cinematic' would ultimately do a disservice to everything that made Alan so oddly lovable.

It is with a great sigh of relief that, by and large, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa manages to retain most of what made his previous incarnations such a success.

Alan (Coogan) is still DJing for North Norfolk Digital Radio, which is undergoing a takeover from 'trendy' corporation Shape. This means that some of the old school DJs are going to be let go, and, faced with the worrying realisation that it's between himself and late-night folk fan Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney), Partridge encourages the board to "Just sack Pat."

Unfortunately Pat doesn't take this too well, and at Shape's launch party shows up with a shotgun and starts a hostage situation, of which Alan finds himself as liason between Pat and the police.

It's a neat little premise that manages to keep things suitably small, yet with enough dramatic menace to make this seem less like a feature-length episode and more like Alan does Die Hard, or, at the very least Airheads (a fun 1994 Michael Lehmann comedy with a similar plot).

Wrapped up in the crisis are a number of old familiar Partridge supporting characters; Felicity Montagu and Simon Greenall continue their great work as I'm Alan Partridge's Lyn and Michael respectively; Phil Cornwell is a more broken and comi-tragic ebb of rival DJ Dave Clifton; and Tim Key supplies delightfully poor puns as Mid-Morning Matters' Sidekick Simon.

It's the new additions to the ensemble that let the side down, it's nice to see Four Lions' Nigel Lindsay as bigwig Jason Tresswell, getting a number of moments to shine, but the other new DJs and station staff blend into the background. Outside of the booths the police are a stoic wall for Alan's comical delusions and arrogance to rub, awkwardly up against. Colm Meaney is fine as Pat, though his role is largely dramatic and antagonistic, he does bring a certain pathos to the character that casts Alan's actions in a pleasingly dubious light.

Ultimately though this is Alan's film, of course, and Coogan is brilliant, the character so strongly defined after starting life as part of BBC Radio Four's On The Hour in 1991. The film is littered with a delightful array of Partridgisms that you will undoubtedly find yourself laughing over lines, meaning there'll be plenty left to enjoy on a second viewing. However, the film is notably lacking a comedic set-piece, whilst Partridge was never about the comical pyrotechnics, his shows were defined by great moments and, sadly, what this film lacks is a great moment; there's one nice bit of physical humour involving a window, but it's no re-enactment of The Spy Who Loved Me, or foot on a spike, or trapped in the super fan's house, etc.

That quibble aside, this is nevertheless a consistently funny film from start to finish, and hopefully not the last time we'll see Alan grace our screens.

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