Is that a gun in your pocket??? (The Parole Officer (DVD))

Member Name: ross1979

Product:	The Parole Officer (DVD)
Date:	21/08/01 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some laughs, Partridge - isms

Disadvantages: Average plot, Little real humour

Knowing me, Knowing you - Ah-hah!

I admit to being an Alan Partridge fan and thought that 'I'm Alan Partridge' was one of the funniest comedies on the BBC this decade. So I rushed down to the cinema when I heard that Alan's actor Steve Coogan had released a film. Expectations were high!

Unfortunately, 'The Parole Officer' did not quite deliver on these expectations. Inevitabily, it had a few laughs where Coogan's Partrige-isms shone through, but the overall film seemed like a patchwork of various sketches which was stretched to make a full feature.

The plot involves parole officer Simon Garden (Partridge), who has the outstanding success rate of convincing 3 out of 1000 cons not to return to a life of crime! He witnesses a murder, where the killer is a senior Manchester detective (Stephen Dillane). The detective threatens to frame Garden for the murder and this convinces Garden he must find a way to clear his name.

Fortunately for him, the murder was caught on security camera. Unfortunately for him, the tape from the camera has been removed by the corrupt cops and place in a security vault in a bank. So Garden gets together his successfully converted ex-cons for a carefully planned break-in to retrieve the tape.

Coogan's support cast in the film include Indian film star Om Puri, comedian Ben Miller, Steve Waddington, Jenny Agutter and up and coming star Lena Headey. Together, they manage to pull off a limited number of amusing scenes, with a scattered humour approach.

However, the overall film is somewhat disjointed and lacks a gripping storyline or lasting humour. Part of the problem is Coogans main character. He retains Partridge's ability to irritate everybody he meets, but loses a lot of his funnier qualities.

The roller-coster scene is perhaps the most famous from this film. Garden somehow manage
s to be sick over a group of schoolgirls with horribly real and disgusting vomit.
Perhaps the funniest moment is the art-gallery statue incident, which I will leave you to get a laugh out of if you see it. There are precious few and I dont want to ruin them!!

I was left fairly disappointed after this film. I expected more after some of Coogan's eariler characters and performances. It could and should have been a quality British comedy filled with the awkward situations Coogan is so good at performing. As it was, it was a moderate story interrupted with the occasional chuckle.

Summary: