Stars: Steve Coogan, Lena Headey, Om Puri, Steven Waddington, Ben Miller, Stephen Dillane

Director: John Duigan

Summary: Simon Garden is a hugely unsuccessful parole officer who finds himself in the frame for a murder that he didn't commit. To prove his innocence he must break into a security vault and retrieve a CCTV video tape. He enlists the help of four incompetent ex criminals and a beautiful female police officer...

The Parole Officer is the first cinematic starring role for popular British comedian, Steve Coogan. Reminiscent of the classic Ealing comedies, Coogan plays Simon Garden, the parole officer of the title, who is wrongly accused of murder by a crooked policeman. He's subsequent attempts to clear his name lead to all manner of comic capers.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

Although there are one or two belly laughs along the way, for the most part The Parole Officergets by on the pleasantly old-fashioned charm of a latter-day Ealing comedy. And despite a handful of gross-out moments (involving a roller coaster at Blackpool, a severed head and a wasp) most of the humour comes from the interaction of a good ensemble cast.

It's the first big-screen vehicle for Steve Coogan, who plays the titular officer as a watered-down, more likeable version of his most famous creation, Alan Partridge. After being set up by a corrupt detective Coogan's hapless Simon Garden--in fact always identified as a Probation Officer, so presumably the film's title is an attempt to attract a transatlantic audience--must recruit a motley gang of his ex-con clients to plan and execute a bank robbery in Manchester. Indeed, one of the film's principal attractions is its affectionate use of that city centre as a setting instead of the more usual seedy London locations of most British caper-comedies.

Coogan's gang are a familiarly dysfunctional bunch, redeemed by sympathetic performances from, notably, Om Puri as irascible serial bigamist George and the young Emma Williams as serial car thief Kirsty. Not enough effort goes into fleshing out the characters, though, and in particular Lena Headey as Coogan's policewoman girlfriend is far too thinly sketched to seem convincing. However, much fun is had by all as the team bond, bicker and construct, A Team-style, the tools they need for the big heist. The bank raid itself is the film's highlight and features a surprising deus ex machinaappearance from a very distinguished guest star.

If The Parole Officernever stretches to the sublime heights (or psychological depths) of I'm Alan Partridge, it does play out in a brisk 90 minutes like an extended episode of Coogan's Run; which is to say it's got plenty of easygoing charm even if it never pushes any boundaries.

On the DVD:the handful of extra features include a surprisingly serious commentary from Coogan, cowriter Henry Normal, director John Duigan and producer Duncan Kenworthy. More interesting is the handful of deleted scenes, in which we find that some precious character development was sacrificed in the interests of pace (as well as a couple of perfectly good jokes). There's a 22-minute featurette, which isn't really a "making of" but just a series of interviews with the principal cast, plus the trailer and Atomic Kitten's "Eternal Flame" video. The picture is a good anamorphic (16:9) ratio with Dolby 5.1 sound. --Mark Walker

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Featurette - THE MAKING OF THE PAROLE OFFICER, Commentary - 1. Cast and Crew, Deleted Scenes, Music Video - 1. Atomic Kitten - ETERNAL FLAME
Year:	2001
Release Date:	March 18, 2002
Runtime:	128 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	902 349 9
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Officer, Parole
Genre:	Comedy