Probably the best-known but-I-digress novel in English literature, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," has inspired "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," surely the best but-I-digress movie this side of "Adaptation." Written in the mid-18th century by Laurence Sterne, the book is mostly famous for being one of those famously unread tomes. One of those weighty books many people may have heard of but almost no one has read, unless stuck with it on a syllabus. As one character in the movie explains, it was "a postmodern novel that was post before modernism existed." Read the full review
A comic look at an attempt to make a movie based on one of the most famous — and notoriously unfilmable — works of British literature, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman." Bouncing back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmakers, the story follows both Shandy himself and the actors and crew on the chaotic movie set.
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Jeremy Northam, James Fleet, Robert Brydon, Dylan Moran, Keeley Hawes
Run time: 94 minutes
Release date: Jan. 27, 2006
Rating: R for language and sexual content.
See showtimes
Behind the scenes
Austin American-Statesman film writer Chris Garcia interviews director Michael Winterbottom about his wide-ranging movies, including an upcoming ghost story.
On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require
Quicktime
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B+
"...a little like The French Lieutenant's Woman by way of Monty Python."
Austin American-Statesman: 4 of 5 stars
"The book might be unfilmable, but it inspired a wonderfully peculiar movie nevertheless."
The Palm Beach Post: B
"It is nothing that has not been covered in other backlot comedies, but the impossibility of the collective cinematic task keeps the joke going longer than you might think."
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