I've Just Seen's video: Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa REVIEW @Robbiereviews for I ve Just Seen

FOLLOW I've Just Seen @Ivejustseen1 and Robbie Collin @robbiereviews SUBSCRIBE to I've Just Seen for access to more first look reviews and previews. READ Robbie's full review on the Telegraph here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10200537/Alan-Partridge-Alpha-Papa-review.html The accepted formula for turning sitcoms into films is to go bigger and brasher, ideally while taking the cast on a foreign holiday. Two summers ago, The Inbetweeners Movie followed this method to the letter, with resounding financial success. And in 2009, the Westminster satire The Thick Of It flew to Washington DC, business class, and swelled up beautifully into In The Loop. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa bucks half of this trend, and keeps its feet planted firmly in East Anglia. The setting is still Norfolk, the background is still local radio, and Alan, played as ever by Steve Coogan, is still the host of Mid Morning Matters, discussing the pressing issues of the day with Tim Key's Sidekick Simon. ("Later we'll be taking dedications from anyone who's been denied planning permission, and asking which is the worst monger: fish, iron, rumour or war?") Here is where the bigness and brashness come in: a digital conglomerate that has just bought the station sacks Colm Meaney's Pat Farrell, a veteran of the graveyard slot. Heartbroken, Farrell returns to the studio with a shotgun and takes the staff hostage. Only partly intentionally, Alan falls into the role of negotiator, and starts broadcasting live from inside the siege. The national media arrive, and Alan's profile skyrockets. Old friends, like his assistant Lynn (Felicity Montagu) and rival jockey Dave Clifton (Phil Cornwell), join in the fun. Alan becomes a hero, and his weapon is chat. In short, this is the Alan Partridge film that Alan Partridge would make. The location is, of course, not the problem -- the film's belief that Alan has to do something exciting in order to hold our interest for 90 minutes is. Partridge is of the same stock as Charles Pooter, Bertie Wooster, Captain Mainwaring, David Brent and Mark Corrigan: he is funny because he exists in a state of almost permanent weakness. Accordingly, Alpha Papa's biggest laughs explode from moments of pure inconsequence, and to watch Alan lip-synching to Roachford's Cuddly Toy in the car, before the mood is temporarily killed by another driver who has his fog-lights on inappropriately, is to know a profound and lasting joy. But put him in a position of strength -- make his actions actually count for something -- and his comic power just melts away. Alpha Papa allows Alan Partridge to dream big -- or biggish, anyway -- for the first time in the character's 21-year history. But since when was he the man of our dreams? -- I've Just Seen... brings you exclusive first-look reviews of major cultural events, featuring comment and opinion from the journalists of The Daily Telegraph, London - the UK's biggest broadsheet newspaper. Subscribe to our new channel: youtube.com/user/ivejustseen Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ivejustseen1 For full-length reviews visit: telegraph.co.uk For more videos like this go to: telegraph.co.uk/video