A COCK & BULL STORY

REDBUS

RELEASED 20 January 2006

Michael Winterbottom is proving himself to be Britain’s most prolific and diverse director. Between 2001 and 2006, he directed the period piece ‘The Claim’, Madchester music scene movie ‘24 Hour Party People’, futuristic thriller ‘Code 46’, sex and live music flick ‘9 Songs’, and now an ‘unfilmable’ novel, Laurence Sterne’s sprawling 18th Century masterpiece, ‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.’ Steve Coogan plays Shandy and Rob Brydon plays his Uncle Toby, whilst both also play ‘themselves’ as the movie goes behind-the-scenes on the Shandy set. All the humour is here as each attempts to upstage the other in the friendly rivalry stakes, with Brydon consistently trying to convince Coogan that his role is bigger than it seems. Coogan depicts himself virtually exactly as he is portrayed in the press, as a sex addict who is more interested in his cute assistant (Naomie Harris) than the mother of his newborn child (Kelly Macdonald). This is awkwardly close to Coogan’s public perception. As things spiral into budgetry problems, they bring X-Files star Gillian Anderson onboard, playing herself of course.

Very clever and post-modern, with a roll call of British TV stars, ‘A Cock and Bull Story’ is also funny throughout, and thoroughly British.

THREE OUT OF FIVE