The Parole Officer

source: The Parole Officer

There are some laughs and some entertaining dialogue in a low budget film, which survives harsh criticism, because Steve Coogan carries the rest of the cast along with his Cluesoesque ability to get it right without really knowing what he is doing. This is really for Partridge fans.

Steve Coogan is a hero of mine from Paul Calf to Alan Partridge to even Tony Ferrino he is a master of comedy. He has constructed in this film a fantastic premise filled with brilliant set pieces and fabulous 1 lines. This film is the comedy of the year dont miss it. 5 out of 5

Best surprise I've had in a long time: funny, sweet, and just well, good. It's not crude, or rude ('cept for a couple of obligatory phallic jokes and a couple of swear words) : it could be Rowan Atkinson in the title role. Here Steve Coogan, for my money, leaves behind the skewering satire and parody that made him a household name and a cult figure on UK television, and by half way through the film develops a character that you root for 100% Nice storyline, a fun caper, and mixed bag of personalities make this a much better mix than expectations might lead you to believe. I love Ealing Comedies, and good British comedies like Brassed Off, and thought the recent US remake of the Ladykillers was just about everything you don't want a crime comedy movie to be... ... the thing about the Parole Officer is that it is simply enjoyable; it has great pace, some tension and thrills, good laughs, with enough silliness, and ideas to keep it afloat; but it also has a sweet heart and a decency at its center. We thoroughly enjoyed it: especially the last hour: once Coogan stops trying to prove he can develop figures only to poke fun about - he becomes a really likable character - and that's no bad thing. It's fun - pure and simple - which is a quality sadly lacking in films these days. Definitely worth viewing.

After mediocre initial reviews, this film could become a cult classic. It's a 'perfect crime' comedy with hints of 'A Fish called Wanda', and different people will take different things from it. There's high-level slapstick, satire/parody and a lot of Steveish in-humour for die-hard Coogan fans. The entire plot is unbelievable to a farcical extreme, and every character other than Simon Garden suffers from a lack of depth, but then this was always going to be a Coogan vehicle (Rover 75 V6 with Walnut dash, perhaps) and he makes the transition to big screen star successfully, if reluctantly. I suspect that as Coogan matures as an actor and relaxes into mainstream life, the Parole Officer's reputation will retroactively improve and in ten years time, this will be seen as a classic British comedy.

Coogan a man of such great promise. The man who bought us the genius of Partridge, and a host of other characters. And so why is he in this tosh? There's about one decent gag, the rest is just awful and the script is pathetic.

Believe it or not there are some really talented British actors on show here, but the awful script and direction make this so dire as to be embarrassing. Probably just a cynical attempt to cash in on recent British comic successes, little thought was given as to the interaction between the TV stars such as Coogan & Miller, and established Thesps such as Puri, Agutter and Sharif. Few of the performances are spot-on - young Emma Williams' perhaps being the best. There is an awkward, contrived, hurried feeling to it all, and the few jokes that actually work are lost in all the confusion. It looks like it was finished in a weekend like a sort of last-minute school project - started with good intentions, but ran out of steam sometime after a heavy dinner and a few drinks. That's probably the only time to watch it - slightly merry, stuffed, and too lazy to change channels on the TV.

Steve Coogan is one of Britain's top comedians and has done many funny things on TV such as Alan Patridge and Paul Calf but i have no idea what he was thinking when he decided to star in this rubbish. The Parole Officer has one major flaw for a comedy...it's not funny. The story is dull , the characters are unbelievable and worst of all , for the first time' Steve Coogan is complete pants. Considering the film is over 90 minutes long there is only one funny moment in the film and that is the roller Coaster scene apart from that this film will have set back Coogan's career 10 years especially if it was hoped this pap was going to make money on the American market. We have seen too many rubbish british comedies recently and if we carry on we are in danger of overtaking the yanks in making pathetic unfunny movies. Even if your a Coogan fan give this a wide birth. 4 out of 10.

You've seen similar plots, characters, tension/release "will the good guys prevail against unbelievable odds" elements if you've seen any movies at all. But you probably haven't seen too many lead characters like Steve Coogan's rather ungifted parole officer in this. Coogan specialises in 'little' English characters (though quite a diverse range over his career) - graceless, irritating, of terrific drive but little achievement, and prone to finding the greatest possible embarrassment and humiliation in any situation. They're somewhat like Michael Palin's favourite type of characters (if you know Eric Olthwaite from the TV series "Ripping Yarns" that's probably one of his) but Palin had more affection for them as a rule. Somewhat unusually for Coogan he displays a certain affection for his parole officer here - he has his triumphs - but this is a more conventional kind of entertainment than Coogan is normally prone to. It really is just a feelgood comedy caper movie, with a stand-out lead character, but the feelgood stuff is done pretty slickly, and the protagonist is invariably hilarious - Coogan is funny every time he puts himself at the centre of a scene. I can understand why other long-term Coogan fans are surprised or disappointed about the conventional nature of this movie, as opposed to his TV work. But I think "The Parole Officer" achieves everything it intended to. Steve Coogan is an exceedingly talented man.

The Parole Officer marks Steve Coogan's entrance into the world of cinema and what an entrance it is.In probation officer Simon Garden,Coogan has created a character that we genuinely want to win.We want him to defeat the bad guys but never during its entire running time do we want to BE him. Simon means well but always manages to get himself in embarrassing situations.And when he gets himself in these situations,he just digs himself deeper and deeper into them.The basic plot is already known so I don't need to type that out.However,there was an amazing car crash near the beginning that I wasn't expecting. I don't want to go into more detail cos I will probably ruin all the best bits for you.Another thing,one of the major problems I had with comedies of 2000(Road Trip,Meet the Parents etc.) was that the trailers gave all the best bits away.Luckily,The Parole Officer doesn't suffer from this problem and doesn't even mention the scene in a museum that had me in stitches.If you get the chance to see The Parole Officer,go see it.I guarantee you won't regret it.