The Parole Officer (2001)

Director:

John Duigan

Writers:

Steve Coogan (written by)
Henry Normal (written by)

Release Date:

10 August 2001 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Steve Coogan Is....[The Parole Officer]

Plot:

A failed parole officer framed for murder must enlist the help of his former clients to clear his name.

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Murder | Parole Officer | Evidence | Police

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Steve Coogan	...	Simon Garden
Emma Gilmour	...	Secretary
Susan Jane Tanner	...	Stern Woman
Iain Mitchell	...	Tribunal Chairman
James Smith	...	Tribunal Man
Om Puri	...	George
Steven Waddington	...	Jeff
Ben Miller	...	Colin
Emma Williams	...	Kirsty
Stephen Dillane	...	Inspector Burton
Bruce McGregor	...	First Policeman
Lena Headey	...	Emma
Justin Burrows	...	Mills
Marc Goodhall	...	Death / Student (as Marc Goodall)
Clive Kneller	...	Deacon

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content/nudity and language.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Australia:PG | Sweden:7 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Spain:T | UK:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Company:

DNA Films

Trivia:

As a gag, Steve Coogan featured three review quotes on the back of the UK version of the DVD, the first review reads: "Unarguably the greatest film ever made" which was quoted by Alan Partridge, a fictional character created by Coogan. Another review says "A Bag of Sh*te" quoted by Paul Calf, (another fictional creation of Coogan's), while the third review is a standard quote from a Hot Dog magazine review which reads: "Coogan is the new Peter Sellers".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kirsty breaks them out of jail with the stolen van, you can see the fake wall.

Quotes:

Colin: What we don't need is a curly headed wanker trying to be Captain Kirk.
Simon Garden: At least he got things done. Imagine you looking for Spock in Star Trek 4: "Oh, sorry, we couldn't find him".
Colin: [laughs] That was Star Trek 3. It was called "The Search for Spock"!

Movie Connections:

Features "Trumpton" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Heroes

Hardly original but certainly entertaining

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.