SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

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

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kamila Bell 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.

Scott LeBrun It's irresistible to watch this superior British cast play ageing rockers in this affectionate tribute to classic rock and its characters. The film chronicles the 20 something year reunion of Strange Fruit, a band that had had some success back in the 1970s. Naturally, when the men get back together some resentments once again resurface. For example, the lead singer Ray (Bill Nighy) has to live in the shadow of some former band members that have passed on. Fortunately, our heroes are able to take advantage of the interest in "retro" entertainment.While fans of "This is Spinal Tap" could find this quite to their liking, "Still Crazy" is played more seriously, and has some awfully poignant moments. It gets sentimental but never overly sentimental, and earns its emotional responses honestly. The cast couldn't be better: Nighy, Stephen Rea as keyboardist Tony (the man who initiates the reunion in the first place), Jimmy Nail as bass player Les, Timothy Spall as drummer Beano, Juliet Aubrey as Karen, who helps set the wheels in motion, Billy Connolly as loyal roadie Hughie, and Hans Matheson as Luke, the young new addition to the band. Connolly also serves as our narrator, and his voiceovers are hilarious.This is written with great affection by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, who are trodding on fairly familiar ground for them, as they'd previously concocted "The Commitments", among other things. And helping to serve as the icing on this cake is the music, which is actually pretty damn good much of the time.A real gem, worth a look for lovers of rock music and fans of these actors.Eight out of 10.

cake-26 I wanted to like this movie. I love classic rock and I already liked the cast (those that I had heard of) and it's kind of OK, but just not great. Plot-wise, I knew what I wanted and what I was gonna get. Once great rock band, ravaged by tragedy, time and drugs get back together, against the odds to heal the hurt and pull off a great comeback. To pull off a story this clichéd, the movie needed better script, better acting, bigger scale, bigger budget and more authenticity. As it is it just feels cheesy and the empathy with the 70's rock band seems second-hand, based on folklore and not actually from having lived it. The writers were born in the 30's,so they would have been past it way before the heyday of the band in the film. I guess that's why it just seems clichéd rather than genuine. It was enjoyable mostly, but it's been done better before, several times.

laurapalmersdead "Still Crazy" is without a doubt the greatest rock comedy of all-time. It has been erroneously compared to "This Is Spinal Tap", which it has no relation to. "Spinal Tap" is a satire (and, quite frankly, not a very good one, in spite of it's "outing" of many rock clichés). Unlike "Tap", "Still Crazy" is populated by great actors, great songs and great human situations. You CARE about the people in "Still Crazy". That's all that matters. Oh, yeah, the music's pretty damn good, too, written by Mick Jones of Foreigner and Chris Difford of Squeeze. American audiences were already familiar with Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), but would only later become familiar with Bill Nighy (Underworld, Love Actually, Pirates Of The Caribbean II) and Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter movies).

hellam-horror Saw this movie on premium TV HBO, showtime, or starz and could not believe it was not a big hit. Soundtrack as all comments I've read was excellent and all round just a damn good flick. I have had a Tivo for about 8 months and have been looking for this movie but it has not been on at all. I guess I'll give it another couple months and then breakdown and buy the DVD. If you are a fan of 60's/70's rock this is a must see and probably a must have. I sang in rock and roll bands as a young man and really got every thing they went and were going thru. I had never seen Bill Nighy (or at least had never noticed him) until I saw this movie. I really started to be a fan after watching a few more of his movies including a little gem called (i think) "the girl in the cafe".