best movie i've ever seen.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

As a British comedy I would rate this as pretty ordinary, just because I hold their comedies up to very high standards and this is only average in that universe. Compared to American comedies, this is probably a solid ten , so I'm averaging it out to an eight. It's worth watching, because there are a lot of laugh out loud moments, although, at the same time, many of the jokes fall flat. The plot overall is good, while being a bit uneven, but it redeems any failings with some unexpected twists. Some people might not be comfortable watching this movie with children because of a few mildly sexually explicit scenes. My summary is that I don't regret the time lost to this film, I just think it had a lot more potential.

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.

***SPOILERS ALERT*****A gang of likable crooks led by a socially inept amateur plan a bank robbery with the aid of a series of low tech gadgets, ending with a feel good musical interlude. Expat director John Duigan pays homage to that excellent little Aussie movie "MALCOLM" here and if you enjoyed "THE PAROLE OFFICER" I'd suggest you make the effort to track down this 1986 heist comedy. Most people's opinions of "THE PAROLE OFFICER" seem to stem from the expectations they bring into it. I watched it with low expectations after reading a few bad reviews but ended up being pleasantly surprised, but if you're a fan of Steve Coogan's edgier work in "Knowing me, knowing you' and "24 hour party people" you'll probably be disappointed in this effort to make a conventional, feel good comedy. It's not a classic. The mix of comedic styles don't really sit together all that well, and even for the low standard that you apply to the plot of a gag movie the holes in the story tend to grate on you. (Why didn't they just kill him, why not erase the tape, why does gorgeous Lena Headey have a crush on the gormless Coogan.)But the things that work about this film outweigh the flaws. The gang of crooks is very likable, especially Om Puri as the philosophical serial bigamist and Emma Williams as a spunky joy rider who just wants to belong. The locations are unusual and nicely shot. Steve Coogan basically plays his Alan Partridge role again, the earnest but out of his depth social ingenue with a stream of consciousness patter. If you've been fantasising over Jenny Agutter ever since "Walkabout" and "Logan's Run" you'll see that she's aged rather nicely, and there's a surreal walk on part from Omar Sharif that completely comes out of left field. So if you've got a friend who's been banging on about how funny this is beware, you may be disappointed. But if you've read the reviews and are thinking about giving it a miss, try it. It's not a waste of time.

Having read some of the other comments, I can only say that some people take their comedy far too seriously: I really enjoyed seeing this at the cinema and bought the DVD to share it with my friends. I can't think of anyone with whom I've seen this who didn't enjoy it - there are some great one-liners, some really funny visuals, and the comedy is all based on character rather than pratfalls (although there are some of those too). The cast all seem like they were having fun: Coogan is Coogan, Lena Heady is delectable (especially in the shower) and Om Puri is predictably brilliant. The minor characters are all well cast and add to the fun. I found this film thoroughly likable - and I think you probably will too.