The Parole Officer (2001)

Wonderful character development!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

As a British comedy I would rate this as pretty ordinary, just because I hold their comedies up to very high standards and this is only average in that universe. Compared to American comedies, this is probably a solid ten , so I'm averaging it out to an eight. It's worth watching, because there are a lot of laugh out loud moments, although, at the same time, many of the jokes fall flat. The plot overall is good, while being a bit uneven, but it redeems any failings with some unexpected twists. Some people might not be comfortable watching this movie with children because of a few mildly sexually explicit scenes. My summary is that I don't regret the time lost to this film, I just think it had a lot more potential.

A decent and somewhat odd (as English movies tend to be) old-fashioned crime caper film. I was not familiar with most of the cast. Steve Coogan, the lead, is apparently a well known British comedian. His role is odd, nerdy and retiring at times, but crude and up-front at others. Omar Sharif and Jenny Agutter have small roles. Emma Williams put in a nice turn as the juvenile delinquent, fairly unsuccessful car thief. Lena Headey was gorgeous, as usual, as a policewoman. Nice location photography in Northern England. Aside from the more modern crude humor, this movie has the feel of one from the Sixties or Seventies. Nothing great, but overall, okay.

This is a John Duigan movie, one of my favourite directors. I love the way he wraps an entertaining movie around an art film. Every time I re-watch one of his films I find more of the symbolism of the art film inside. I've only seen this one once so far -on Showcase in Canada-, so I'm holding any vote till later, if I can get it on DVD. Apparently it hasn't been released in North America yet.What strikes me most so far are parallels with The Pink Panther. I love those films too, but hated Clouseau/Sellers. I have a feeling it will be the same here. Some people have pointed out that Sharif's cameo was pointless. But Sharif/Victor=Niven/Phantom complete with complicit wife and had to be in there somewhere. Duigan used the tale "Baba Yaga and the little girl" in Lawn Dogs, but Victor represented a different Baba Yaga reference similar to Bartok the Magnificent.It takes a while to get into Duigan movies, but it is well worth the effort. I'm even willing to put the effort into Paranoid. I'll edit and expand on this next time I watch it which I plan to do many times.

It is certainly an excellent film and i feel that i wasn't disappointed once while on screen.From start to finish was excellent plot and storyline.Most of the gags are visual "the falling chair" "the roller-coaster".Like Patridge there are many similarities.The talking of his Account number is definitely Alan.I feel its Norman Wisdom/Peter Sellers & partridge rolled into one. What more do you want.The roles of the other characters are also great. "Im a fishmonger" are so funny. You just have to laugh at his misfortune.I also don't know why people don't like this film,i would certainly give it 9.2.I am a Alan partridge fan, but seeing him take on another role (hapless,misfortunate goon) shows another side of coogan.Surely you find the fight scene hilarious with the fan? "That's £20 thats 40 each"