Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 2.0
Winterbottom begins with an attempt to film part of the 'unfilmable' Laurence Sterne novel before shifting gears and turning it into a film about an attempt to film the book, paralleling the novel's (very early) 'postmodernist' style. Steve Coogan is a charismatic if smarmy lead, playing multiple roles and having the best bits (The Womb material, to be exact), but I found the film to be uneven and the faux-documentary aspects to drag - there's quite often a lot of dead air before the (infrequent) gags that eventually 'hit.' I confess I'm not too privy to this style of 'storytelling' - I have a strong distaste (if you haven't already noticed) for pictures that are similar to This Is Spinal Tap - which is roundabout, masturbatory and always keeps one eye over its shoulder.
