The River

The river so still that it does not flow
It's waves stand alone and do not go
Anywhere, anyhow.

The waters are barren, as dry as the sand
It ripples alone and does not understand
Anything, anyhow

The river it leads afar out to the ocean
It moves there without making a motion
Anytime, anyhow

The tide has no depth, it is entirely shallow
It is covered by an all encompassing shadow
Anybody, anyhow

The river it appears, every time we all grieve
It's impossible to drown with no need to breathe
Anyway, anyhow.

KRS

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge character is something of a British national icon. At the least a cult national icon. Debuting on BBC Radio 4's On The Hour as a bumbling, incompetent sports correspondent before transiting to TV on the excellent show Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge and then the highly-praised I'm Alan Partridge.  Now in 2013, the character is adapted to the big screen in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

 

As a fan of the TV shows, I went into this with pretty high expectations, not helped by the critical praised being heaped upon it. Haven't seen anything from director Declan Lowney except his work on Father Ted, which is cause for optimism though.

 

Anyhoo, straight into the plot. Since it's pretty minimal, I'll let some obscure site/Wikipedia to summarise it for me (Lazyness ladies and gentlemen)

 

"After being fired from North Norfolk Digital when it is taken over by a multinational conglomerate and renamed Shape, a disgruntled DJ returns to the station during an office party with a gun and holds the station hostage. The only person he'll talk to during siege negotiations is fellow DJ Alan Partridge who, as he quickly becomes the public and media face of the siege, sees an opportunity to stage a triumphant return to the limelight. "

 

A-ha!

 

A nice and simple story, one that could easily be condensed into a 30 minute TV episode but one that I'm glad they stuck with. No going to America or cheap gimmicks like that, "Alan out of water" tales would of been terrible.

 

The cast is solid, with Coogan on top form as the titular character and Colm Meany (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Die Hard 2) is fantastic as antagonist Pat Farrell. Felicity Montagu  returns from the I'm Alan Partridge series as his unfortunate personal assistant and she does a fine job here too, producing a few laugh out loud moments on her own, somewhat different from the series where she is the butt of jokes. Reprising their roles also are Simon Greenall as Michael, Alan's troubled Geordie friend, who thankfully gets a more limited screen time than the show, letting the jokes pop up intermittently through the film rather than oversaturating them, it allows for more hits than misses. Phil Cornwell reprises rival DJ Dave Clifton but doesn't get much presence.

 

No reunion for Lazarus aka Debonair aka Bangkok :(

 

Although all the winks and nods are great, I am a little disappointed by the lack of Knowing Me, Knowing You references.  Even a little cameo from Glen Ponder would of been fantastic. Ah well, bit of a nit-pick really. There is zero Abba music though and that sucks.

 

Declan Lowney's direction is fine, it occasionally flutters into TV territory but it's well shot and well lit so I ain't gonna bitch and moan. Whether it's him or simply the script, they handle the drama and emotional scenes well, they don't feel juxtaposed in and the contrast between the humour and the serious is never jarring.

 

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa might not translate as well for audiences outside the UK but it's a well-written, genuinely funny film that (barely) escapes the curse of TV-comedy being turned into badly adapted movies. It occasionally suffers from some mistakes though, obviously some jokes are a miss, it's take a while for the pace of the plot to move along as it takes a while to establish the characters (and style of humour) for those unaware of the franchise. Still, it's hilarious and I recommend it highly.

 

79/100 - Entertaining and funny movie that not only reaffirms the British stereotypes of comedy but openly embraces it. 

This Is 40

This is 40 is director Judd Apatow's spin-off sequel to his 2007 comedy hit Knocked Up, with Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprising their roles as the two recently turned 40 year married couple who fucking hate each other and are all round terrible, terrible people.

That descended into hate rather quickly didn't it? But it's pretty much Apatow's recent outputs in a nut-shell. Hate coated outer layer with a nugget of enjoyability at the center. I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy some of Judd's films, as immature and as low-brow as it was, I got such a kick out of The 40-Year Old Virgin (Dude is super insecure about being 40), Superbad was relatable and fun in a stupid way, Funny People as Apatow's peak, a genuinely funny film that I enjoy the fuck out of. Even Knocked Up was surprisingly funny, even with Katherine Heigl's best effort to devour the spirit of us all. The succubus of comedy if you will.

The plot is pretty much a re-hash of Knocked Up, with Paul (Paul Rudd) and Leslie (Leslie Mann) coping with both turning forty (who'd of thunk it) and then dealing with the news of un-expected pregnancy, when Leslie gets Knocked Up this time. There is a few loose sub-plots involving father issues and trouble at school with a Tom Petty look-a-like kid. They are completely forgettable though, with no build up or real establishment and a straight jump to the pay-off renders them unnecessary padding.

 

Judd is miserable while being surrounded by cupcakes and flaming sticks of wax - what an asshole 

Still, the core of the plot revolves around Paul and Leslie, and it is genuinely investing themes of dealing with the burden of middle-age, clutching to the last threads of youth and questioning the strength of love and relationships through it all. It's a shame this was all already done, same characters and all, in Knocked Up. It's just been stretched/fleshed out into full length..

Paul Rudd plays an insufferable, immature and selfish man-child (Why I never!) that is such an unlikable character it's actually impressive. I'll cover it more when I review Knocked Up, but he is the pinnacle of the man-child stereotype that has consumed modern comedies. Leslie Mann on the other hand, delivers a strong performance. That should be surprising considering Apatow's knack at writing terrible, terrible female characters but on the other hand, Leslie is Judd's wife so go figure. Their kid's are pretty good too for what it's worth. The rest of the cast is entirely forgettable and if you can remember anybody apart from Megan Fox (who is looking pretty baked throughout her appearance, just sort of there for the pay check while still managing to suck any momentum in the scenes she is in) I'll not only eat my hat, but I'll eat my entire wardrobe (which thankfully consists of just one hat)

Jason Segal and a few of the Knocked Up characters pop in for a brief cameo or two but Rogen/Heigl never show up.I get Heigl not appearing but towards the climax of the film, there is this big birthday party scene and it was a little weird not having them there. Even if it was Rogen cameoing because Heigl was in the toilet after “bad nachos” I don't fucking know, it just would have been good to see, 'specially cause I was sitting there waiting for them to be seen or mentioned the whole fucking movie length.

Megan Fox puts both her talents on show

 

It's weird because for all of the films flaws, it is exactly terrible. It straddles that thin line occasionally but never delves into the depths of eye-gauging awfulness that Adam Sandler's flicks live in. It's not very long, it's steeped in (dated) pop-culture references and delivers very few laughs throughout, yet it will make you smirk occasionally and very rarely you will get a moment that will turn the smile into a chuckle, usually when Chris O'Dowd or Melissa McCarthy delivers a line. I don't know, I'm confused at how much I should dislike this, it's blatant mediocrity should but insulting but time didn't slow down nor did I lose my sanity, so there is that.

This Is 40 is a fine example of mediocrity and of how not to make a sequel. It's bland and un-original yes, but it is also somewhat entertaining. It's a adequate film for a couple to watch (although it may make them question their relationship if they relate to the characters situation and aren't smart enough to realise life won't automatically solve all their deep rooted problems.) but if you haven't already seen it, give this one a miss and just watch Knocked Up instead.

40/100 - A bland inoffensive clone that occasionally threatens to be funny.