Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Red-Barracuda A Cock and Bull Story is another collaboration between Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom. They had combined to extremely successful effect in their earlier film about Tony Wilson and the Madchester scene, 24 Hour Party People (2002). Here, they go down a slightly more experimental road with a look at film-makers and actors trying to adapt an 18th century classic novel hitherto considered unfilmable, namely 'The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman' by Laurence Sterne. It appears that quite a lot of the negative reviews directed at this one come quite often from people who thought they were going to see an actual attempt at adapting this book, which is a fair enough assumption I guess given the title and poster. But it only is this for the first half-an-hour or so and then becomes a film about the making of the adaption, it ultimately results in a movie which fails to bring to the screen a novel which people said could never be brought to the screen, which is a reasonable idea I reckon. So it is best to go into this one knowing what it's not going to be. As it transpires it is practically plot-less which centres on Coogan playing a version of himself dealing with some minor dramas and squabbles behind the scenes of the movie-making. It's a wilfully loose approach which seemingly mirrors the novel which was pioneering in its flippant disregard to conventional narrative expectations of its day.All this is well and good but what makes it truly work is that it is that rare thing, a genuinely funny comedy. Coogan and co-star Rob Brydon – who also played similar versions of themselves in Winterbottom's TV series 'The Trip' - work fantastically well together. They have superb comic chemistry, their constant bickering over all manner of trivial matters is proper laugh-out loud stuff much of the time. It feels quite ad-libbed as well, with an extremely amusing sequence of the pair of them doing Al Pacino impressions over the end credits being a particularly funny example. Brydon is especially amusing in this film, with his periodic impressions of Coogan being another highlight. While Coogan's nightmare of Brydon being the star of the movie with Gillian Anderson on his arm while sporting a Roger Moore voice, was just too funny. Coogan himself has an uproarious inspired scene all to himself where he practices acting out what it would be like having a hot chestnut drop down his trouser-leg only to then try the real thing to hilarious effect. There are many other individual moments of inspired comedy to be found here too and this is one of the few movies where the deleted scenes on the DVD simply have to be watched also! The cast is fleshed out by a great ensemble of talented actors, many of which from British TV and everyone puts in a good turn. This is one of those films whose post-modern approach sort of makes it difficult to explain very well in words and which really needs to be seen in order to understand. Its well worth taking a punt with this one though as it provides great comic acting within what is a pretty original framework. It's essentially another impressive success from Winterbottom, Coogan and Brydon.

The_late_Buddy_Ryan We enjoyed "24 Hour Party People," but decided to delete this one from our Netflix queue after we watched "The Trip" on streaming (hated it!). Forgot to do that though, and since our next couple of choices turned out to be unavailable…. My wife bailed pretty quickly; the whole mockumentary thing and Steve Coogan's beyond-obnoxious "Steve Coogan" persona were starting to grate a bit-- though, in contrast to "The Trip," the childish rivalry between Coogan and Rob Brydon gets to be kind of funny, in a Shandyish, over-the-the-top sort of way. Then about halfway through, when it seems like you're not going to see any more scenes from the book and that things can't get any more aimless and chaotic, the whole project suddenly comes into focus. A Woody Allen–style bit in which the pig-ignorant Coogan hits on a cute film buff by pretending to be a Fassbinder fan suddenly backfires in an interesting, even affecting, way, and a cleverly set-up sight gag makes Coogan literally shrink to Lilliputian size after Brydon nails a romantic scene with goddessy Gillian Anderson. (I guess what it boils down to is that the film becomes quite entertaining when Coogan starts to get his rear kicked. ) The scenes from "Tristram Shandy" that do make it into the final cut certainly reflect the novel's brilliant and exasperating qualities; good work by Shirley Henderson as a careless nursemaid, Naomie Harris as the film-buff PA and Ian Hart as the much-put-upon screenwriter. The contrast between the pampered, narcissistic actors and the obsessive professionalism of the offscreen talent is especially striking; -I liked the tireless wardrobe mistress and the Aspie battle-scene coordinator who gives every extra an "authentic" 1695 character name (one of them's "Flee-Fornication Jones" or something like that, obviously a Puritan). Summing up: -it may seem like a loser at first, but stay with it

rooprect 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!!!

trewrtew If few of us watching Tristram Shandy were aware that the film was shot on video and not film, this is because the content may have been carefully chosen to help us go on the journey and forget the look of the movie.We associate the film medium with the movies and we tend to suspend our disbelief accordingly. When we see video, (even hi-definition video) we associate the content with documentary.It's all in the grey matter. Video can be as good as film - even better - but it has yet to help us dream the way film does. Successive attempts to do so have lost money, which is why, once a producers have hired actors, caterers, etc, etc then they might as well pay the little extra for the box-office guarantee that film provides.Tristram Shandy, in the tradition of the Russian Ark (2002), combines dramatic content, sumptuous costumes and classical decor with an alternately journalistic style complete with presenter, unsteady hand-held camera and almost a reality TV insight into the film-making world.The trick of using just enough documentary content to woo our subconscious into accepting HD video as a drama medium for the movies got me - hook, line and sinker! In terms of our evolution from film media into a purely digital one, Tristram Shandy is a significant milestone.