Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

stilwelljim I work in Curry's, and was going to write my review in Latin, but decided most of you won't be able to understand it. I watched this in 6th form in the late 90s, and could quote a lot of it word for word .... as you do back then, at that age. Now at 34, I still meet up with mates and I don't think I have had a night where I didn't slip in a quote here or there, could be something as small as "lovely stuff" .... or aqua, it's french for water. There are hundreds of varying quality, but you never run dry!Then there are just outrageous, where did the thought process come from lines like; "I know lying is wrong, but if the elephant man came in now in a blouse with some make up on, and said "how do I look?" Would you say, bearing in mind he's depressed and has respiratory problems, would you say "go and take that blusher off you mis-shapened elephant tranny"? No. You'd say 'You look nice... John'"The genius of Bohemiam Rhapsody is that you listen to it and think this is so out there, so unusual, where did it come from, what was the thought process, and that's what I think about Partridge. Some of it is just incredible genius, simple, but brilliant. I wrote a review for curb your enthusiasm, which the Americans hold up as comedy, I can see parallels between that and Partidge, but it's nowhere near as funny!

erin s. In On the Hour and The Day Today, the character of Alan Partridge is introduced as a bumbling, easily exasperated sports reporter. The audience gets a more focused look at him with his "failed" chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge, but the character does not really "come into his own" until the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge.Sometimes mistakenly labeled as a mockumentary, I'm Alan Partridge is immediately removed from that label by its use of a laugh-track. In KMKYWAP, the audience sits in the same studio as Alan's, and he often reacts to their laughter as though to heckling. With IAP, the hand-held camera-work does somewhat mimic that of a documentary, but that non-diegetic tittering causes a riff in the realism of the show, as Coogan and other cast members will time delivery in accordance with the track. Partridge is thus occasionally portrayed as a bit more of a "doof" than he might have been otherwise, in his "hamming it up" like other sitcom characters.In the first series of IAP, though the laugh-track is a bit jarring, there is still a deep sadness to Alan Partridge. He still often acts like a buffoon, but the series is emotionally connected by his fear of failure (to get his chat show renewed). This is represented visually by a dream motif, depicting Alan gyrating in a strip club for the BBC's Tony Hayers and other television executives. Alan will often act like a fool to try to avoid this nightmare, but as the other characters (particularly Sophie and Ben of the Linton Travel Tavern) are aware of how outlandish Alan is acting, the realism is reaffirmed. Realism is not a necessity for a comedy show, but as Alan Partridge was initially conceived as a lampoon of a particular type of media personality, it is important for him to be grounded in reality. Thus, the world is not wacky, but a desperate Alan Partridge is. This is particularly revealed when, so determined to please some Irish television executives, Alan shows them to the house of a random fan in lieu of his own, and that aficionado ends up being an obsessive stalker. In IAP, however, even this "crazy" fan pales in comparison to Partridge's reactions to him.The first series meanders in terms of quality, with the best episodes directly connected to Partridge's fear of failure (and thus his unhappiness), and the worst feeling undeveloped and rather pointless (in "Basic Alan," a bored Alan makes for a bored audience). The last episode brings the series to a nice close, with Alan so desperate for his career not to die, that he uses a dead man's hand to sign a contract. The cackling audience does not know whether Alan will succeed, but they do know how low he will stoop to ensure it.In the second series of IAP, filmed five years after the first (2002), Alan is immediately brought back to his "roots" in the premiere, by giving a talk at his childhood school. But these are roots the viewers know nothing about, having never been established in the first series or before. Likewise, this episode is largely about exposition – Alan's career got somehow even worse, he had a breakdown, and he got fat—all sort of "funny" things that would leave a man as fragile as Alan shattered. Instead, Alan, having "bounced back," careens around, acting doofy as ever. Yet unlike the first series, in which almost every character seems to act as a rational foil to Alan's out of touch personality, a parade of guest stars enter into the world of IAP, each seemingly trying to outdo Alan with their wackiness. There is Alan's young Ukranian girlfriend Sonja (Amelia Bullmore), who in her broken English constantly plays practical jokes that even Alan knows are shamefully unfunny. There is Stephen Mangan as Dan, a seeming younger incarnate of Partridge's personality, yet no longer is it crazy enough just that there exists another human being with Alan's god-awful disposition, and Alan ends up the saner one of the pair, as Dan is into orgies and "sex festivals." The undercurrent of melancholy in first series is replaced by a more "tragic" back-story, and "front"-stories obsessed with Alan not just embarrassing himself, but everyone else embarrassing themselves as well.(Also, the former Linton staff-member Michael, someone whom Alan never previously seemed to like or be able to understand, is elevated to the spot of Alan's best friend.) In the last episode of the second series, as Alan's book is pulped and officially regarded as a failure, the tragedy mentioned in the premiere is finally dealt with. As Alan is confronted with failure once again, he has a series of flash backs to his "Fat Alan" stage. He is invited onto a Christian radio show, and in an attempt to not look like the biggest failure there, he insults the other guest in exceedingly outlandish ways. Yet instead of responding with some bigger, hammier reaction, the other guest stops him like a rational human being would, and leaves. A sense of realism is restored. The Christian radio host remarks on Alan's book ending every anecdote with the line "Needless to say, I had the last laugh." IAP's second series seems to suffer from this obsession as well. In order for IAP to be not only funny but compelling, the characters do not need to try to outdo each other with their wacky hijincks and clever jokes. The goofy, but more subdued Alan Partridge of The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You can already bring laughs just with his exasperation. But IAP's second series, so desperate to make the audience snicker, largely dismisses realism, and in doing so, reduces much character quality and consistency, and Partridge's fear of failure does in a way come true.SERIES ONE: ********/10 (8/10) SERIES TWO: *******/10 (7/10)

made_o_stone Along with series 6 of Only Fools and Horses, I'm Alan Partridge series 1 is the greatest set of episodes of any comedy I have seen. The sheer quality of the acting and writing makes you weep at those who think My Family is good TV.The first I saw of I'm Alan Partridge was the final episode of the original run. I can still remember being in tears of laughter from start to finish; seeing 'Castrol GTX' revealed on Alan's jacket at Tony Hayer's funeral nearly killed me. Then I saw the first run of repeats and was completely hooked.The genius of Alan Partridge lies in how many different layers of his persona are evident - his fixation with transsexuals, his obsession with war and death, his desperation to be liked, his hatred of criminality and his xenophobia to name a few. Then there's the little things - the way he has to explain his jokes, his bad breath, the daydreaming, his bad skin and receding hairline, his love of driving. The genius of many of Alan's traits lies in the fact that they were established gradually ever since his first appearance on The Day Today. We discover on Knowing Me, Knowing You that he has bad breath, he has his first run-in with a transsexual and he refuses to pull onto the hard shoulder for sex.Steve Coogan's performance as Alan is simply sublime. For example, when he is presenting the boat video and tries to ingratiate himself with 'the lads' by ogling a passing woman. Notice the look on his face just after he says "oooooooooooohhhh sex" when he starts drinking his pint, the little expressions like that are genius.Many of the strongest scenes take place in the radio studio - the Joni Mitchell rant; "Mmm, a nice big thick slice of Thin Lizzy"; the war with Dave Clifton; "So give me a call, PLEASE!! Seriously, though, do give me a call." These were certainly the better parts of the second series, which I thought was generally embarrassing and took the character in completely the wrong direction.I hope I haven't bored anyone, but it's hard not to look so closely at such an incredible series. Here are my favourite quotes: "Never throw water on a fat fire. It'll take your face off." "You know the breakfast buffet, all you can eat but from an 8-inch plate? 12 inches. Keep it in my room." "That is the best Valentine's Day I've had in 8 years." "What did you do 8 years ago?" "Just had a better one. Went to Silverstone, shook Jackie Stewart's hand - superb. My marriage fell apart soon after that." "What was he doing on the bloody roof?!" "He was getting the aerial down..." "Yeah, I was being rhetorical." "He had a second class honours degree in Media Studies from Loughborough University. What a waste." "I'd love to feel an airbag go off in my face. It'd be 'Huh, boosh, boosh'...cushion effect on the face." "Looking at the big girdles section? Amazing to think that some of these women are technically models." "Jet from Gladiators to host a Millennium barn dance at Yeovil Aerodrome. Properly policed, it must not, repeat not turn into an all-night rave."Ten on ten, Lynn

VictorianCushionCat Following up to the origional "I'm Alan" was a tall order.As an avid fan of the radio/TV/live shows (basically anything Coogan has done as Alan P) I was worried that this follow up would be hard pressed to match the genius of the Travel Tavern episodes.And it is true, it is not quite as good, but then the first series was sublime, not only because of the classic quotes I still share withfellow fans today, but because of the direness of Alan's Situation and how he handles it.His lot is better in 'I'm Still Alan' albeit still pretty desperate, and the series is basically very good, not a great, but very good. Plenty of 'cringe' moments and memorable lines 'back of the net!' being the most repeated that have since been added to the mix of over a decade of Partridgeisms.Partridge was easily the funniest character to emerge in the 90s however I would be worried any further series could see declining returns.