A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Expected more

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Maybe it's because I came to this after already having seen the TV series, The Trip. In the TV series, of course, much of the kidding between Brydon and Coogan has been enjoyed in a much more distilled form. Here there is the, not uninteresting, business of the making of a film and telling something of the Tristam Shandy story. But there seems too much of Coogan worrying about his height in relation to his old pal and far, far too many babies. Being born and crying, babies everywhere plus the excruciating stuff with Coogan in the womb. I may have enjoyed this more without having seen the TV but it seems to me this is a very brave effort to do something very ambitious with limited resources and the two main guys just itching to get it down to simply something involving the two of them.

This movie deals with the making of a movie based on an 18th century novel. About halfway into it, the following dialog about the movie-in-the-movie can be heard: "Why are we devoting a year of our lives to making this movie anyway?" "Because it's funny." "Is that all?" "Yes, if it's genuinely funny, that is enough. But it has to be genuinely funny."Unfortunately, the "real" movie is not even close to being genuinely funny. The jokes are few, most of them are lame, and some jokes which are mildly amusing are destroyed by being drawn out to interminable length. Nor does the movie work as an adaptation of the novel, because very little of substance is shown from the novel, or said about it.Instead, most of the movie is taken up with the uninteresting personal life of actor/comedian Steve Coogan, presented in a very pretentious fashion. (Examples: is Coogan a bigger star than co-actor Rob Brydon, and should this be emphasized by having Coogan wear shoes with higher heels than Brydon? Does Coogan have time to make love to his wife who has turned up at the place of the filming with their child, or is he too distracted by his work?) This material is excruciatingly boring and (due to the pretentiousness) severely annoying.It is symptomatic of the lack of substance and originality of this movie that much of its soundtrack is borrowed from other, much better movies: Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2, which also deals with the making of a movie, but in a much more intelligent (and funnier) way, and Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract, still one of the best movies from the UK in the last 30 years.To sum up: this movie is a failure, and not even an interesting failure. You may want to see it if (in the words of another reviewer) "Steve Coogan is the most important person in your entire universe", and if you don't mind long stretches of boredom interrupted by the occasional lame joke. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

The movie starts in the makeup trailer with 3 mins of Steve Coogan listening (annoyed) to Rob Brydon talk about the color of his own teeth. "Actually it's a nice colour. You can decorate a child's nursery in this colour. Quite soothing." Done with impeccably awkward timing and proper British tongue-in-cheek cheekiness, you'll either love it or hate it from the start. The rest of the film is equally bizarre, and while it may have little to do with the story of the book it's loosely based on, "Tristram Shandy" captures the same delightfully comical theme of polite chaos.If you're a fan of Christopher Guest ("This is Spinal Tap", "Waiting for Guffman", "For Your Consideration"), this will be right up your alley. "Tristram Shandy" is presented almost like a mockumentary following the backstage drama of a bunch of oddball characters trying to film a low-budget film based on an 18th century novel. Sound confusing? It is. But that's the point of the book: no matter how well you plan something, life's randomness will always win. Steve Coogan reprises the role he has played many times: an egotistical yet lovable loser who is unsuccessfully trying to assert his greatness. But no matter how hard he tries to steal the show, his nemesis Rob Brydon seems to get all the laughs & attention.Fans of British cinema & TV will recognize lots of familiar faces popping in & out (and a hilarious scene with American actress Gillian Anderson from the X-Files). But even if you don't know who these people are, you'll have a good time.This is definitely not a madcap comedy. The humor is very low-key and subtle, even more subtle than the aforementioned Christopher Guest films. If you like to enjoy your films on a deeper level, there's actually quite a bit of structure and intelligence behind it all. In that respect it reminded me of Charlie Kaufman's confusing masterpiece "Synecdoche NY" (an oddball comedy about a about a man getting lost in the task of writing a play about himself) and the equally unconventional musical "De-Lovely" (about Cole Porter watching a biopic about himself)."Tristram Shandy" is not for those who want fast paced laughs & punchline zingers, but if you enjoy real-life comedy, don't miss this. And stick around as the credits roll... as I said in my title, Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon arguing over who does a better Al Pacino is PRICELESS!!!

This film is dire, self-satisfied, pretentious and - more importantly -dull. A 90 minute examination of Steve Coogan's (fictionalized?) ego is only clever and postmodern if you happen to be Steve Coogan or a member of his immediate family. Is he a bigger star than Rob Brydon? Will he cheat on his wife with the pretty assistant? I don't care and neither should you. The only question I am interested in is why Michael Winterbottom saw fit to touch this steaming pile of smug middle class turd when he could have been making another film with a point and a social conscience, qualities with which he is more usually associated. Shame on you Michael, you let your famous friends turn your head.