Review of Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) by Philip L — 12 Jan 2010

Great cast, good acting, Serkis is excellant as Dury, great music.....but alas not a great film!!!

Why not? because the direction/script fails to develop adequately any characters other than Dury's so that many of the scenes that try to be emotional and relate to Ian's personal relationships with others tend too often to fall mushy and flat. I just couldn't feel empathy with Serkis's Dury even though the film was suggesting I should be...and that's a big failure.

Unfortunately the film is too fragmented and incoherant chronologically events happen out of time context...so it's hard to understand why Ian dury was such a cultural icon during the punk/new wave explosion of the late 70's. In other words too much time is spent on Ians personal life and relationships and not enough on his art.

Love the tie in with Spartacus even though this felt a little shoehorned into the story.