I almost didn’t see Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, because I live in England, and they cross-promoted the hell out of it. Including, but not limited to, how dare you pay for a cinema ticket you dirty cinema stealer ads that are so effective against filmgoing, I mean piracy. Also, the title. Sigh. It is now coming out in America, and you will not see it because it has not been promoted. But you should, the fact that I’m not going to talk about every last detail should tell you that. It’s what I don’t say that matters, which made the last five weeks the best time for this blog in its history. At least for you.

I saw it so long ago, I don’t even remember what treats I had. Filmwise, this is the first time I’ve had an advantage living here.

Though I won’t give away any jokes, I would say that there’s something about Too Many Writers that works in the context of comedy, especially when there’s someone as talented as Mr. Armando Iannucci to be the editor and possibly the papa to force the others to tell even better jokes. It’s like watching a perfectly edited machine gun. Even the structure, usually the weakest point in any comedy, makes the thing tick, with secrets and motives crossing each other like trailers, bus ads and internet presence and Alan Partridge drinking a Mountain Dew. It’s really one of the best in the best year in cinema since 1994, so, in a reversal of roles, I am a critic now. I’m writing a plea to actually see the damn thing, at the time that the film is coming out, instead of three months later.

And yes, I’m aware the film came out last week. But I wrote that sentence a week ago. So who’s acting like a film critic now?

Just hoping that will catch on.