A cock and bull movie

Hi,

In many ways Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is sort of the bizzaro twin of The Aristocrats. Both of them just kinda sprawl around and go nowhere. They kinda half-heartedly attempt this documentary or self-searching thing and then just kinda leave it on the floor and simply are.

But where The Aristocrats is simply a Bach-like fugue based on a very filthy joke, Tristram Shandy sublimes until it almost evaporates into the ether. On the surface, it's a movie based on the book of the same name. Then it's a movie about the meaning of the movie. And then it's a movie about the making of the movie. And then it's about the people making the movie. And then there's this whole other thing that's going. All of this is mixed together. Then Stephen Fry comes in for 2 minutes at the end and walks away with the whole thing.

So. Is it funny? Well...not in the laugh out loud, setup/punchline way that The Aristocrats is funny. There are some humorous bits, but here the funny is very, very subtle. If you liked HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, you would probably really like this. It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping for, but I had some preconceptions. Once the movie finished demolishing those, I could see that it was very good on its own terms.

later
Tom

A cock and bull movie

Hi,

In many ways Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is sort of the bizzaro twin of The Aristocrats. Both of them just kinda sprawl around and go nowhere. They kinda half-heartedly attempt this documentary or self-searching thing and then just kinda leave it on the floor and simply are.

But where The Aristocrats is simply a Bach-like fugue based on a very filthy joke, Tristram Shandy sublimes until it almost evaporates into the ether. On the surface, it's a movie based on the book of the same name. Then it's a movie about the meaning of the movie. And then it's a movie about the making of the movie. And then it's about the people making the movie. And then there's this whole other thing that's going. All of this is mixed together. Then Stephen Fry comes in for 2 minutes at the end and walks away with the whole thing.

So. Is it funny? Well...not in the laugh out loud, setup/punchline way that The Aristocrats is funny. There are some humorous bits, but here the funny is very, very subtle. If you liked HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, you would probably really like this. It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping for, but I had some preconceptions. Once the movie finished demolishing those, I could see that it was very good on its own terms.

later
Tom