Steve Coogan and Henry Normal, writers of The Parole Officer, both have had moments of brilliance in their careers. The Parole Officer, however, is not one.
The film is ostensibly a comedy, but devotes most of its screen time to hackneyed, and frankly boring, story lines: Coogan plays Simon Garden, a parole officer who discovers corruption within the Manchester police department, and assembles some of his former, reformed clients in order to help him steal the evidence needed to bring this to light. There's also a chemistry-lacking romantic subplot involving a policewoman, and not many laughs.
Coogan has delivered some of his best, funniest performances when allowed to just freely ramble, often improvising. The Parole Officer, with so many plot "twists" to work in, eschews any such quiet hilarity, and when it has room for a joke, goes with obvious, crude bathroom humour (there are a surprisingly high number of boner jokes). The amount of time spent on the convoluted crime/corruption plots also cuts characterization to a minimum. Even Simon Garden, our supposed protagonist, is not given much personality or character history beyond, "he has some sort blood sugar disorder requiring him to eat crisps a lot." Furthermore, the plot's much-heralded action sequences end up being rather dull, and the music selection (late 90s/early 00s pop) does not help, as it has not aged well.
Coogan has a few funny moments, and there is a very short, very strange cameo by Simon Pegg and Julia Davis, but there is nothing in The Parole Officer to justify a recommendation. It is better off forgotten, as one failed venture of some very talented people.
(For those severely crushing on the Coogs, and curious to see him in the glasses and smart suit on the poster, just skip to the dialogue-free end credits montage – you won't miss much.)
The film is ostensibly a comedy, but devotes most of its screen time to hackneyed, and frankly boring, story lines: Coogan plays Simon Garden, a parole officer who discovers corruption within the Manchester police department, and assembles some of his former, reformed clients in order to help him steal the evidence needed to bring this to light. There's also a chemistry-lacking romantic subplot involving a policewoman, and not many laughs.
Coogan has delivered some of his best, funniest performances when allowed to just freely ramble, often improvising. The Parole Officer, with so many plot "twists" to work in, eschews any such quiet hilarity, and when it has room for a joke, goes with obvious, crude bathroom humour (there are a surprisingly high number of boner jokes). The amount of time spent on the convoluted crime/corruption plots also cuts characterization to a minimum. Even Simon Garden, our supposed protagonist, is not given much personality or character history beyond, "he has some sort blood sugar disorder requiring him to eat crisps a lot." Furthermore, the plot's much-heralded action sequences end up being rather dull, and the music selection (late 90s/early 00s pop) does not help, as it has not aged well.
Coogan has a few funny moments, and there is a very short, very strange cameo by Simon Pegg and Julia Davis, but there is nothing in The Parole Officer to justify a recommendation. It is better off forgotten, as one failed venture of some very talented people.
(For those severely crushing on the Coogs, and curious to see him in the glasses and smart suit on the poster, just skip to the dialogue-free end credits montage – you won't miss much.)