Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

This film is just hilarious from beginning to end. Like most of the best comedy out there, it's thoroughly British in every way. It's more like The Office than Monty Python, though. Sure it's gimmicky and kind of silly, but that's precisely why it's so funny. When it was over I wanted it to just keep going. It could've been twice as long and I would've been on board for every minute. It's not for everyone, I'm sure, but it certainly is for me.

It mirrors its source material as a manifestation of the idea that it's impossible for art to capture all the joys, tragedies, trials, foibles and contradictions of life. But with its actors playing actors playing actors, it also manages to be a nasty little rumination of the frequent insincerity of the presentation of the self and one-ups The Player as a self-referential deconstruction of the filmmaking process. Also, it's hilarious.

Mix one part novel adaptation with two parts behind-the-scenes mockumentary. Throw in Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Shake well before serving, and this is the result. Mockumentaries are nothing new but this certainly is: it's not often you see one where the actors on screen are actually playing themselves. Coogan grounds the film while chaos flies in circles around him. He and Brydon have beautiful chemistry, they play off each other endlessly, and their banter during the final credits is a riot.

Inventive and exciting. There's a ton of fun in this movie, playfully layered and frequently hilarious. Every scene brings something new, not a moment feels superfluous. The dialogue over the end credits is a riot too ("just touch my teeth").

5 years before Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon churn out endless Al Pacino and Michael Caine impressions in "The Trip," Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon churn out endless Al Pacino and Michael Caine impressions in "Tristran Shandy." After decades of unintentionally playing the twat comedian, Coogan finally realizes that other people see him as a twat, and instead of changing his tune, he does what any respectable comedian would do--makes this new-found twatiness the focus of his schtick...and succeeds.