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A Cock and Bull Story

A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

July. 17,2005
|
6.7
|
R
| Comedy History

Steve Coogan, an arrogant actor with low self-esteem and a complicated love life, is playing the eponymous role in an adaptation of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" being filmed at a stately home. He constantly spars with actor Rob Brydon, who is playing Uncle Toby and believes his role to be of equal importance to Coogan's.

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BlazeLime
2005/07/17

Strong and Moving!

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Claysaba
2005/07/18

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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Glimmerubro
2005/07/19

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

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Geraldine
2005/07/20

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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krocheav
2005/07/21

There's always someone who wants to throw money away on work that tries too hard to be 'different'. Based on Laurence Stern's unfilmable novel, Frank Cottrell's screenplay rambles from one awkward situation to another. Director Michael Winterbottom then strives for laughs while attempting to salvage some sort of form from the formless. The end result looks like a movie that has been cut together from footage that's been thrown in the air then pieced together as it's lifted from the floor. It all tries to be smart but ends up simply smug and foolish. The sort of movie that mostly pleases film festival crowds and leaves Cinemas half empty. Not really worth the effort despite some reviews that look like the cast and crew wrote them. Seems some may like this style of movie to help them feel 'smarter' than the average (but average what?). Run for cover lest ye be robbed of a couple of hours of valuable life!

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Andrew
2005/07/22

Steve Coogan, having wowed all with the send-up of Reactionary England that is Alan Partridge, ponders what he will do next.Stephen Fry, channelling the hurt of the Native Americans dug up in the excellent TV show QI, communicates with Partridge via telekinesis. He suggests they show off by making a literary adaptation.This is a joke.Partridge protests at the last paragraph, insisting that "A Cock and Bull Story" is considerably more amusing than it. I smush him. Nonetheless, the film became legion, making lots of people watch.Somewhere, a young man vomits.

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Martin Bradley
2005/07/23

A movie about the making of a movie and the movie in question is "Tristram Shandy", the novel they said was unfilmable and which isn't filmed here. It begins like a deconstruction of the novel in filmic terms, part Tony Richardson's "Tom Jones" and part Karel Reisz's version of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" but it soon abandons that approach in favour of a reasonably straightforward account of the film-making process in which the two stars of the film within the film, Steven Coogan and Rob Brydon, play themselves or rather are acting 'characters' called Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon since this is fiction and not a documentary. It is never as funny or as 'post-modern' as it thinks it is and somehow it is the 'Tristram Shandy' sequences which come off best. Still, it is as idiosyncratic as anything Michael Winterbottom has done, self-indulgent and bold at the same time. It will do until someone actually films "Tristram Shandy".

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skelman-2
2005/07/24

This film is dire, self-satisfied, pretentious and - more importantly -dull. A 90 minute examination of Steve Coogan's (fictionalized?) ego is only clever and postmodern if you happen to be Steve Coogan or a member of his immediate family. Is he a bigger star than Rob Brydon? Will he cheat on his wife with the pretty assistant? I don't care and neither should you. The only question I am interested in is why Michael Winterbottom saw fit to touch this steaming pile of smug middle class turd when he could have been making another film with a point and a social conscience, qualities with which he is more usually associated. Shame on you Michael, you let your famous friends turn your head.

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