Review of A Cock and Bull Story (2005) by Tristan G — 12 May 2009

Payday was a couple days ago, so I decided to go to Blockbuster for some 4-for-$20 action. Ends up a bigger sale was happening, and I came home with ten DVDs. Needless to say, it was a good day (some of the others I got include [i]Persepolis[/i] and [i]In Bruges[/i]).

[i]Tristram Shandy[/i] is a mildly entertaining comedy which I'm glad I only paid four bucks for. It's basically a British Christopher Guest movie: a faux documentary chronicling the creation of an adaptation of a seemingly impossible-to-film novel. I've never read the work which is central to the movie, so perhaps I didn't "get" it, whatever "it" is. I do have to say that the movie piqued my interest in the book, at least.

There are two main problems with the movie: it's smug, and it's dull. Far too often it's clear that the film finds itself hilarious, which it very, very rarely is. For the most part, the camera is simply meandering around sets and hotels and such. It's like [i]Russian Ark[/i] without the bragging rights or pretty costumes.

Steve Coogan does make a likable triple lead, though none of the supporting cast particularly stand out. There are a few cleverly done scenes, particularly the bit about classical conditioning and Steve's competition with the child actor early in the film. But such moments are too few and far between.