TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY

Director: Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, The Claim, Welcome to Sarajevo)
Starring: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, and much of the rest of the British acting union

Prior to seeing this film, my knowledge of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen began and ended with the fact that the book was a notable precursor to postmodernism. I didn’t even really know when it was written, or set. Now I do, assuming that this film can be trusted on these points. Tristram Shandy is the twisting, highly self referential story of the birth of an English gentleman in the 18th century. I think it’s literally about the birth of this man, but I can’t really confirm that. You see, this film is only vaguely about the book.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is a choppy, self referential tale about actors (named Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, etc) making a movie about Tristram Shandy, a supposedly ‘unfilmable’ book. Their lives mimic, or at least reference, the events of the movie. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play games of oneupsmanship with each other in the filming. Coogan fools around, while his girlfriend and baby are in the hotel upstairs. The film lurches and heaves forward eventually getting completed. Occasional artful characters describe the meaning of the story they’re filming, but most simply want to find a few laughs and live their lives. And in the end that seems to be the point of the story we’re watching, that plans are made to fall apart in a person’s life. That we lurch and weave and waiver around from birth to death. Blah blah blah.

The construction of the story is notable. It’s a complicated weave between the original book, the film-making process and the lives of the actors in the fictional movie (who happen to have names like the real actors portraying them). Complicated, huh? There are certainly similarities between this work and Adaptation, the quite good Nicolas Cage film of a few years back, and I feel similarly about both of them. This film was interesting, intriguing, and yet not entirely compelling.

I loved Winterbottom’s previous film 24 Hour Party People with it’s tight and enriching dialog and story. This film was similar in tone, but while unusual and intriguing it was simply not as good. The characters and dialog were hilarious at times, but sometimes were very much not so. So if you enjoy vaguly experimental film construction, that’s quite smart, but only moderately funny and compelling, you’ll probably very much enjoy this one. High marks for the effort behind this movie. I also have a feeling that this will be a movie I enjoy as much or more on repeated viewings. I imagine it's rich and layered enough to provide something new each time.

Standouts: Smart, quirky, complicated story construction. Steve Coogan.
Blowouts: The details in the story. It’s only marginally funny and occassionally boring.

Grade: B+