Alpha Papa is top of the UK box office, just where it belongs

I am very, very happy that Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is currently at the top of the UK box office. 

I went to see it on Saturday and while Steve Coogan's greatest creation has never put a foot wrong (figuratively) in his endless hunt for fame and recognition on the small screen, there is always a sense of trepidation when it comes to anything-to-film conversions.

What if the studio gets in the way and demands changes? What if the script writing just isn't up to it? What if, what if, what if.

All fears were assuaged within the first five minutes, however, as what turned out to be the most consistently funniest 90 minutes that I've spent in a cinema for some time unfolded in front of me. 

Primarily, this is a film for fans with many a knowing nod and wink to Partridge's previous desperate clamber up the greasy pole of fame - charted so ably through two series of I'm Alan Partridge (1997) - following his monumental fall from the public eye after shooting a man dead with an antique pistol, live on his BBC chat show Knowing Me Knowing You (1994). 

Monkey Tennis, anyone?

By the time of 2010's Mid Morning Matters (and following a breakdown that involved a great deal of Toblerone), Alan had carved himself a comfortable niche at hyperlocal, DAB-only radio station North Norfolk Digital. 

And this is where we rejoin his story, as unhinged former employee Pat Farrell (played by the always watchable Colm Meaney) takes the station hostage in retaliation for being fired as part of a corporate buy-out. Believing Alan to be his only true friend at the station, Pat demands that Alan be his intermediary with the police, firmly putting Partridge back in the spotlight of the ensuing media glare.

The part where he appears outside the front of the building attached to an unseen Farrell with a rope to bargain with the police is truly exceptional. As is the sight of Alan breaking back in to the siege from which he's just accidentally escaped.

"I am siegeface"

Coogan is absolutely perfect as the aging Partridge, with the familiar supporting cast including his long-suffering, Jesus-loving PA, Lynn (Felicity Montague), sidekick Simon (Tim Key) who spends most of the film gaffa taped to a swivel chair, and former petrol station attendant and full-time Geordie, Michael (Simon Greenwell) all returning to help or hinder in their own way. 

Alongside the regulars are Spy actor Darren Boyd as a hostage negotiation expert left dumbstruck by the bumbling Partridge and serial growler Sean Pertwee providing his usual gravel-voiced hardman, this time in the guise of a police firearms specialist. 

At the heart of it, this is a movie about local radio and Partridge's magnetic return to the microphone at any available opportunity to pose questions to his listeners (such as whether or not you should provide a Christmas tip for a binman who has refused to dispose of a broken toaster) mid-siege, are gentle reminders that despite his lofty desires, this is truly where the Partridge roosts. 

Alpha Papa is a movie that taps-in to the heart of everything that has made Alan Partridge the legend of British comedy that he is today: the desperation not to be forgotten, complete social incompetence, rampant opportunism and overwhelming ego all drive Alan in a way that - while brilliantly farcical - Coogan makes believable within the context of the story. 

Partridge (left) and dog

With stalwart Partridge writers Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham putting together the story (along with screenwriting due Neil and Rob Gibbons) and with Iannucci's previous small-to-big-screen success in the shape of In the Loop (2009), this was always going to be in safe hands.  

Some of the moments are truly outrageously funny, such as Alan's daydream sequence, his plan of escape from the unhinged Farrell and in particular, Michael's 'distraction' near the end of the film, all of which are brilliantly played-out pieces of left-field physical comedy. 

The pace of the movie is matched by the machine-gun laughs, many of which Coogan can engender through Partridge's wry facial expressions, or - as with one instance - by just walking down a hallway. This film is by no means perfect and the final act fumbles its way along to a 'winner-by-default' conclusion, but any and all of its inadequacies can be forgiven. 

If you weren't aware of Alan Partridge before then you may not take away as much from this film as someone who grew up with Coogan's comic creation but I'd wager that you'd still leave the cinema satisfied that this was 90 minutes well spent.