The Parole Officer

"The Parole Officer" is a funny little comedy gem from the UK that has its share of flaws. Occasionally the jokes are just a bit too silly and the movie has a few lengths in the middle. Also, the score seems completely out of place more often than not.

On the plus side, though, the film has got a great cast. Most jokes work because the actors deliver them with such great timing. Nothing needs to be said about Steve Coogan anymore. Everybody knows his talent by now and the man is rightfully on his way to a career in Hollywood. Ben Miller can be seen here, too, before he came to bigger fame with "The Worst Week Of My Life". He's great, just like Om Puri, George Steven Waddington and Emma Williams, all of which play a group of ex-criminals who plan to break into a bank to steal evidence that will clear the name of the wrong-fully accused title character (played by Coogan). Lena Headey is another face you might recognize from "300" or the new "Terminator" TV-series. She's just gorgeous, beautiful and very charming. Omar Sharif makes a prominent cameo and there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by Simon Pegg - probably the best moment of the entire movie.

So, yeah, "The Parole Officer" is a very enjoyable movie. Not all jokes hit the bullseye, but you'll laugh more than a few times. I really recommend this movie to everyone who likes classic Heist flicks and/or comedies like "Fletch".

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.

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.

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.

Some of the criticism this film has received seems a little unfair. While its concept, plot and characters are not very inventive, the tone of the film works. The humour is often very amusing indeed, and much does amuse in the film. Even the predictable attempts at "Gross-Out" humour work in themselves, if perhaps not in the context of the film.

Questions could be raised about the film's odd mix of styles - the attempts at naturalism and post-modernism, old-fashioned lightweight adventure and Ealing whimsicality - all seem at odds with each other, yet an entertaining film emerges from this. The playing of an impressive cast is sound, with the supporting players, like Om Puri and Ben Miller making the most of limited parts. Stephen Dillane does a steady job as a smug, self-satisfied policeman baddie. I much enjoyed the absurd bit where he laughs maniacally for a while while on TV and the camera zooms into the TV screen Coogan is watching him on. Newcomer Emma Williams is an effective addition to the cast, although she doesn't have all that much to do in plot terms, come to think of it. The finely named Lena Headey is very inoffensive as the "love interest", and thankfully the romance such as it is is light-hearted and made part of the convoluted plot. Perhaps a problem is the excess of characters, a few of whom could be done without. Omar Sharif's cameo was briskly enjoyable, but hardly necessary to the plot, for example. Steve Coogan, so successful on TV with the Alan Partridge character, goes for a more likable, less intricate comic character in this film. He is often excellent, in scenes such as when he does an odd, buffoonish dance in a club. There are plenty of effective little character touches and importantly, one is made to like his character and want him and his "gang" to win out, so to speak, by the end. A film reminiscent of past British Ealing comedies, yet with a fair dose of crudity. In the context of today, this is an impressively funny film, but it does not quite match up to "The Ladykillers" or "The League of Gentlemen", for example. It is slightly overlong, but largely a winning, refreshing minor comedy.