Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

SnoopyStyle Simon Garden (Steve Coogan) is an "annoying" incompetent parole officer. Of his thousand clients, he could only point to three successes; George (Om Puri), Jeff, and Colin. He gets transferred to Manchester. Police Inspector Burton (Stephen Dillane) chases down juvenile car thief Kirsty and recovers drugs. She becomes Simon's case and claims the drugs were planted. He asks out police constable Emma (Lena Headey). At a strip club, he witnesses Burton selling the drugs and murdering his criminal partner. He escapes but leaves behind his wallet. Burton threatens him with a murder frame-up but later, he decides to take on the corrupt hero cop with the help of his clients, and the mysterious Victor (Omar Sharif).Coogan is playing a well-meaning buffoon in a light caper police crime drama. He delivers some good comedy and a couple of outlandish gross-out jokes. Vomiting on the roller-coaster is hilarious. The movie could have staked out that area and made this utterly stupid. Instead, it tries to straddle both gross out stupidity and light caper comedy. It needs to pick how serious to treat the material. As it stands, it struggles to satisfy both high-minded and low-brow comedic tastes.

Chrysanthepop Coogan stars in and co-writes a hilarious comedy. 'The Parole Officer' already has a diverse cast that includes Lena Heady, Om Puri, Steven Waddington, Emma Williams, Ben Miller and Stephen Dillane. In addition, there are some interesting and amusing cameos by Simon Pegg, Omar Sharif and Jenny Agutter. It was fun to watch all these fine actors match wits with each other and produce loads of laugh out loud moments. The plot has its share of flaws but then again, this is the kind of movie that is best enjoyed with little nitpicking. The gags work very well. There are hilarious dialogues and plenty of slapstick to draw laugh out loud moments. The attempts of our five heroes in attempting to plan the robbery, in addition to the funny gadgets, were very amusing to watch. Coogan has proved again what a great comedy actor he is and the guy can write. The innovative humour and fine cast make this one a rocky little British comedy.

lastliberal Steve Coogan (A Cock and Bull Story, Hot Fuzz)shines as a parole officer, who was wrongfully accused, joining his band of parolees in a delightful comedic romp to clear his name. Lena Headey (300) joins the fun, as does Omar Sharif.Not being familiar with Coogan's work on British TV, I was impressed with his talents and think there is some fine work ahead from him. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Headey, and would like to see much more of her.I usually don't go for crude humor, but I did have to laugh at the roller coaster bit.

derekparry I remember the critics slagging this one when it came out. I find Steve Coogan hit and miss so I thought I'd give it a viewing expecting a miss but was delighted to find out it's one of his better outings. It's a thoroughly entertaining ride from the first moment to the last with good one liners and some excellent visual gags. People have expressed it requires a British sense of humour to appreciate but surely Coogan trying to break out of the bank would gain international laughter.Good performance from Stephen Dillane as a little nauseatingly unlikeable cop. All in all an excellent movie and a lesson not to believe what the critics perceive is good/bad.