It was only weeks ago that I had complaints about Star Trek Into Darkness. It was a film for the fans and, not being a fan of Star Trek, I was rather unmoved by the film. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a film for the fans too, and this time that includes me. Objectively, perhaps this doesn't make Alpha Papa a much better film than Into Darkness. I might argue that the quality of the comedy in the Alan Partridge brand is strong enough that it maintains some merit among those who are unfamiliar with it. Nevertheless, this is no grand reach-out attempt from the filmmakers. They're pushing on along the same path as ever, which is to say that although Alpha Papa revolves around a dramatic hostage situation, it's tonally in direct line with the TV series. It's a film made in the same spirit, but not a 30-minute episode stretched out to feature length. I imagine the writers had too much respect for the character to do that. This is not an objective review, by the way. You can find objectivity if you peruse a larger number of reviews and ascertain the reactions of Alan Partridge fans alongside those who are brand virgins and those who were never fond of it. But what I was looking for, I found here, and if that means that I was utterly unsurprised for 90 minutes, it also means that I was utterly entertained. It's pretty simple - this is a fucking funny film. There's no great mystery to how that has been achieved, no deep analysis that is required to understand how nor why. It's just funny. Highlights include, as ever, the delightful Felicity Montagu as Lynn Benfield (a pre-credits card in particular is uproarious), a scene in which Colm Meaney almost takes a shit on Steve Coogan's face (something you don't see every day, thankfully) and a real contender for quote of the year: "Here's the theme from Ski Sunday. Sorry for swearing!" among many others.
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