Moxie User Rating
7.8 stars out of 10 (12 votes) - login or register to rate this film
Synopsis
Barely stopping to breathe between productions, outrageously prolific director Michael Winterbottom follows his graphically intimate 9 SONGS with the raucously entertaining TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. This time around, Winterbottom is out to film the unfilmable novel: an adaptation of Laurence Sterne’s sprawling 18th Century masterpiece of digression, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN.
What begins as a seemingly straightforward attempt to recreate the frenetic novel -- starring Steve Coogan as the title figure and Rob Brydon as his Uncle Toby -- quickly derails into a behind-the-scenes document of the film’s actual production. Coming off like a madcap collision of BARRY LYNDON and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, Winterbottom’s film is a hilarious and surprisingly tender ode to fatherhood and moviemaking in general.
Film Information
- Genre: Comedy
- Director: Michael Winterbottom
- Written By: Michael Winterbottom, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Laurence Sterne (novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Esq.)
- Starring: Ronni Ancona, Steve Coogan, and Rob Brydon
- Running Time: 94 minutes, approx.
- MPAA Rating: R
- Language: English
- Official Site
Reviews
"The first great, mind-tickling treat of the new movie year."
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"Rather than adapt the novel per se, Winterbottom has adapted Sterne's hilarious attempts to make the mess of life fit the neat contours of the novel by making a movie about an attempt to make Sterne's chaotic and confusing novel fit the contours of a film."
- Ken Fox, TV Guide
"Because their work is so varied, the director Winterbottom and Boyce, his frequent writer, are only now coming into focus as perhaps the most creative team in British film."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"If that sounds highbrow and pretentious, it's not. The neat trick of TRISTRAM SHANDY is that the whole thing comes off as a lark."
- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Coogan makes tremendous sport of himself, taking on a role as an adulterous, vain, anxiety-riddled, alcoholic and truly comic creep. Brydon is exquisitely droll as the straight man to this ugly comedian act."
- Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
Showtimes
- Wednesday, April 19th
9:30 pm - Thursday, April 20th
7:00 pm - Friday, April 21st
7:00 pm - Saturday, April 22nd
4:30 pm, 9:45 pm - Sunday, April 23rd
2:00 pm, 4:30 pm - Monday, April 24th
4:30 pm, 9:30 pm - Tuesday, April 25th
7:00 pm