Failed parole officer Simon Garden is framed for a murder committed by one of Manchester's leading police officers. The only evidence proving his innocence is a CCTV video tape locked inside a bank vault. With the help of four inept ex-criminals and love interest Emma, Garden must break into the bank and steal the CCTV footage in order to clear his name.....Oh the transition from TV to big screen is a long and arduous path. Some succeed with very little effort (Simon Pegg), but for others, they suffer an unfortunate Mis-step, which hinders them for a while.2001 had two particular cases of the latter. The awful Ali G Inda House was one, and this was the other casualty.The story is good enough, but the humour just feels so seventies TV sitcom, and the inclusion of the vomit scene on The Big One wreaks of desperation. Every one who is a fan of Coogan knows that he is a comic genius, his characters are hilarious and self deprecating, but here with Garden, it seems that he is trying to hard to channel Peter Sellers, but it always ends up with him reverting back to Partridge, which hinders the narrative.The rest if the cast are fine, but they are relegated to stereotypes, and appearing in little sketches that the film resorts too for laughs.It's a shame, because there are a few funny moments in the film, Om Puri is truly funny in his role, but at the end of the day, it just feels like a TV Christmas special, and no amount of Omar Sharif in a comedy wig can change it.

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.)

Coogan stars in and co-writes a hilarious comedy. 'The Parole Officer' already has a diverse cast that includes Lena Heady, Om Puri, Steven Waddington, Emma Williams, Ben Miller and Stephen Dillane. In addition, there are some interesting and amusing cameos by Simon Pegg, Omar Sharif and Jenny Agutter. It was fun to watch all these fine actors match wits with each other and produce loads of laugh out loud moments. The plot has its share of flaws but then again, this is the kind of movie that is best enjoyed with little nitpicking. The gags work very well. There are hilarious dialogues and plenty of slapstick to draw laugh out loud moments. The attempts of our five heroes in attempting to plan the robbery, in addition to the funny gadgets, were very amusing to watch. Coogan has proved again what a great comedy actor he is and the guy can write. The innovative humour and fine cast make this one a rocky little British comedy.

This movie is a good action comedy made in Britain but with Hollywood standards. On one hand it has the typical (and great) sense of humor of the British comedies, with brilliant jokes I must say, but, on the other hand it has the same kind of plot (action/police/humor) used by Hollywood, in movies like BEVERLY HILLS COPS or LETHAL WEAPON. I liked the film, I enjoyed it and found it very entertaining, but I felt a little pity for it tries so hard to be a "Hollywood blockbuster wannabe". I think it really tries to be a commercial movie, and in my point of view I think it would be better if it wouldn't… Anyway, it's a nice film that I will score 8/10 especially because of its great sense of humor (otherwise I would give it a 5/10 or something…). I can remember one particular scene that I couldn't stop laughing for something like (literally!) 5 minutes, while some tears were drowning my face… That was great! (It's a black humor scene when they go search Victor and they find his wife that tells them that he's dead and how he died… remember that scene? It's brilliant dark humor!).