Review of A Cock and Bull Story (2005) by Kenneth L — 12 Oct 2010

When I first watched this as a freshman in college, I found it moderately amusing and occasionally annoying. Now that I've actually read Tristram Shandy, I think this movie is hilarious and brilliant in a very understated way.

The first twenty minutes or so actually capture most of what might be decently called a "plot" in the book, and then the rest is pretty much fooling around, just like the book does. There are in-jokes and subtle similarities you would only get if you had read the book.

Steve Coogan is very restrained here, but much funnier than when he overacts (vid. Hamlet 2). Rob Brydon is excellent as himself playing Uncle Toby, and Dylan Moran (of Run, Fatboy, Run and the TV show Black Books) is wryly hilarious as himself as Dr.

Slop. Gillian Anderson turns up for a nice cameo as herself as Widow Wadman, and Kelly Macdonald is a sweet presence as Coogan's girlfriend. Naomie Harris is very smart and appealing as the only person involved in the film to have actually read the book.

And Stephen Fry himself turns up for very funny bit part. If you don't know anything about the book, you might not get much out of this movie. If you do, though, it's a ball.