Review

Review Date: 26-February-06
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (2006)

Michael Winterbottom has directed a diverse array of films (the dismal period piece Jude, the bitter western The Claim, the music-scene comedy 24 Hour Party People, last year's sci-fi drama Code 46), but excepting Welcome to Sarajevo his work has never connected with me. But now he's gone and made the frothy brew called Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story, and I freely admit to intoxication. A lampoon of moviemakers set against Laurence Sterne's bawdy 18th-century novel, it's an altogether clever and delightful film.

One of the show's running jokes surrounds the leading man's insecurity about his middling movie fame, but Steve Coogan's brilliant portrayal of himself ought to make him a bona fide star. Feigning documentary realism, Winterbottom follows British comedians Coogan and Rob Brydon (the only cast members who retain their real names) as they shoot an adaptation of Sterne's reputedly unfilmable classic. The scenes from this movie-within-a-movie establish a tone of frivolity reflected in the "making of" episodes that unfold around it. The filmmakers (who wear the familiar faces of Jeremy Northam, Ian Hart, Shirley Henderson, Gillian Anderson, et al.) wrestle with script rewrites, tetchy financiers, and the burden of historical accuracy, while Coogan bumbles around apparently proving that Sterne's view of life as a comic circus is as true today as 250 years ago. His scattered energies are directed toward preventing Brydon from stealing the limelight, appeasing his girlfriend (Kelly Macdonald) and newborn son, sounding out the possibilities of a pretty production assistant (Naomie Harris), and keeping a blackmailing reporter at bay. All the players have their roles down pat, but Coogan (the real one) runs a gamut of actorly situations and is equally terrific being wry, worried, affectionate, sexy, selfish, serious, and an ass. (And his hot chestnut scene is an absolute howler.)

Winterbottom's farce doesn't lead anywhere in particular (which is probably why a couple characters discuss humor for humor's sake), but for me it points to possible pleasures ahead. I tried reading Tristram Shandy once and didn't get beyond a few pages, but now that I understand the frame of mind in which to approach it I'm curious to see what fun I might be missing.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.