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TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY (2006) (***1/2)

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Here is a delightful British comedy about the making of a movie based on a classic novel that is deemed unfilmable. Laurence Sterne's THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN was published originally as nine volumes starting in 1759. As actor Steve Coogan describes it in the film, it was “post-modern before there was modernism to be post about.”

In the novel, Tristram narrates his life’s tale, however he is so often sidetracked with tales about his family that the book ends shortly after his birth. Sterne attempted to show that the vast experiences of life are truly impossible to capture completely in art as well as commenting on the writing process itself. The film works in the same way, commenting on the filmmaking processes and how it goes about adapting material from another medium.

Steve Coogan (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) plays himself playing Tristram Shandy as well as Shandy’s father Walter. Ron Brydon plays Rob Brydon, who is co-starring as Tristram’s uncle Capt. Toby, who is obsessed with a battle he fought in, in which he was injured in a sensitive area. The rest of the cast includes Shirley Henderson (INTERMISSION) as herself playing the maid Susannah; Dylan Moran (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) playing himself playing Dr. Slop; Jeremy Northam (AMISTAD) playing the film’s director Mark; Naomie Harris (28 DAYS LATER) playing the production assistant Jennie, who seems to be the only one who has read the original novel and understands it; Gillian Anderson (TV’s X-FILES) plays herself playing Widow Wadman; Stephen Fry (GOSFORD PARK) plays a literary scholar who plays Parson Yorick in the film; James Fleet (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) plays Simon the producer; Ian Hart (HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE) plays Joe the writer; Kelly Macdonald (TWO FAMILY HOUSE) plays Jenny, Coogan’s girlfriend who just gave birth to their son; and Mark Williams (HARRY POTTER) plays historical war buff Ingoldsby.

Right from the start, Coogan and Brydon have a competitive battle going on, regarding who is really the star of the film. Coogan keeps demanding that his shoes be higher so that he appears taller than his “featured co-star.” Coogan and Brydon play off each other wonderfully. Coogan also takes pokes at celebrity clichés with reporters blackmailing him into interviews with threats of publishing articles about his romps with stripers. He’s also been quite flirtatious with Jennie, which if Jenny found out she wouldn’t be too happy.

Coogan handles all of his characters in this film with a droll sense of humor and a perfect sense of timing, especially with the physical comedy. Director Michael Winterbottom (THE CLAIM) and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce ingeniously parallel the action of the novel, the filmmaking process and the lives of the actors. Take note to a conversation regarding filming a scene with Walter holding his new son lovingly and what affect it will have on the audience versus the scene where Coogan changes his baby’s diaper. It’s these brilliant touches that make the film hilarious and very smart.

The main weakness is that knowledge of Coogan, film history and the filmmaking process is needed to really get a lot of the jokes. Some might find the film confusing as it jumps around from the world of the film to the “real” world of the film production. Surprisingly, however, the film does an excellent job of filling us in on the novel. As a backstage mockumentary about filmmaking, TRISTRAM SHANDY is keenly observant about how a film set becomes an insolated society during production. Winterbottom and Boyce have found their own post-modern way to film TRISTRAM SHANDY without actually getting around to filming TRISTRAM SHANDY.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks