383. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013)

Starring: Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Tim Key

Director: Declan Lowney

Running Time: 90 mins

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a British film about radio DJ Alan Partridge, whose friend and co-DJ is sacked by new commercial radio station owners, however in revenge, his friend takes the staff hostage, and Alan must negotiate the situation to defuse any potential violence.

This film was surprisingly entertaining. Usually, taking a previously funny character from the past into making a new, one-off film, fails quite spectacularly, designed for money-making rather than actual comedic value.

However, in this film, I was really delighted by how funny it was. There were various hilarious one-liners from all of the characters, a totally farcical concept that tied in quite nicely with the setting, and of course, that sort of completely underwhelming, sarcastic humour that I love to see from British comedies.

Of course, the story itself was pretty poor, being totally predictable from the start, and not being that exciting, or even ‘tense’, when it was meant to be, however the way in which this story didn’t take itself too seriously, didn’t get tied up with all of the legal implications of a hostage situation, and took the mick out of American action films perfectly was great fun to watch.

Overall, I’ll give this a 7.4, because although it had quite a simple and obvious story, it was entertaining, typically British and just a great pleasure to watch.