All in the space of one year, the creative powers that be have made two biopics centering on perhaps the two funniest and most brilliant British comic masterminds from the 1960's, both who coincidentally shared the name of 'Peter'; the HBO produced, 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' and the Channel Four Films produced, 'Not Only...But Always', a sampler platter look into the life of Peter Cook and (to a lesser degree) Dudley Moore (Aiden McCardle).
Although it may be hard to ascertain how close Geoffrey Rush came to playing the real Peter Sellers, the man away from the cameras. Rush gave an almost out of body performance by nailing down the many varied characters that Sellers brought to life, and by doing so, found himself walking away with Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Best Actor. As spectacular as Rush's performance was, I believe the performance from Rhys Ifans as Peter Cook may even be better. Not only does Ifans capture perfectly the comic delivery, voice and manner of Cook's many characters, but he is also able to convey the inarticulate voice of desperation that troubled Cook in his later years.
If there's any fault to be found in this film, besides the quick work that almost every biopic seems to share, is that the "Not Only" part of the title, that of Dudley Moore, gets such short shrift. Although Dudley Moore is portrayed as a very sympathetic character to the cruel bully that Peter Cook could be, I can't help but feel that Moore comes off as pathetic, not quite sympathetic. I wonder if Dudley in real life wasn't closer to the man who could tell Cook to f*ck off when being picked on by Cook and not the little man who wanders in and out of Cook's life, cursing under his breath. Dudley was a massive talent and a great performer, just not a performer on the level of Cook, who could easily improvise a surrealistic comic situation or deal in 10-minute monologues. I guess I may never know.
The only moment I felt the urge to cringe was when the actor playing Blake Edwards says to the camera, "Hi, I'm Blake Edwards". Really? Was it necessary to take the time to introduce Blake Edwards? Couldn't we just see a reenacted scene from 10? We'll get the idea. Anyway
This film is very moving at times even though it is quickly paced. It also breaks away from conventional film making by knocking down the third wall. In this case the narrative is handled by Pete 'N' Dud. They casually make remarks about the extras and green screens and at times these characters are used as ghosts within scenes. This film making technique seems to be all the rage as it was the same technique used in the Peter Sellers biopic. Nevertheless I found it to be inventive in its own right, and incredibly touching.
This is the kind of movie you watch once and then scour the movie rental shelves looking for Bedazzled or The Wrong Box.
All in all . a good evening.
Clark Richards 8/10.
Although it may be hard to ascertain how close Geoffrey Rush came to playing the real Peter Sellers, the man away from the cameras. Rush gave an almost out of body performance by nailing down the many varied characters that Sellers brought to life, and by doing so, found himself walking away with Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Best Actor. As spectacular as Rush's performance was, I believe the performance from Rhys Ifans as Peter Cook may even be better. Not only does Ifans capture perfectly the comic delivery, voice and manner of Cook's many characters, but he is also able to convey the inarticulate voice of desperation that troubled Cook in his later years.
If there's any fault to be found in this film, besides the quick work that almost every biopic seems to share, is that the "Not Only" part of the title, that of Dudley Moore, gets such short shrift. Although Dudley Moore is portrayed as a very sympathetic character to the cruel bully that Peter Cook could be, I can't help but feel that Moore comes off as pathetic, not quite sympathetic. I wonder if Dudley in real life wasn't closer to the man who could tell Cook to f*ck off when being picked on by Cook and not the little man who wanders in and out of Cook's life, cursing under his breath. Dudley was a massive talent and a great performer, just not a performer on the level of Cook, who could easily improvise a surrealistic comic situation or deal in 10-minute monologues. I guess I may never know.
The only moment I felt the urge to cringe was when the actor playing Blake Edwards says to the camera, "Hi, I'm Blake Edwards". Really? Was it necessary to take the time to introduce Blake Edwards? Couldn't we just see a reenacted scene from 10? We'll get the idea. Anyway
This film is very moving at times even though it is quickly paced. It also breaks away from conventional film making by knocking down the third wall. In this case the narrative is handled by Pete 'N' Dud. They casually make remarks about the extras and green screens and at times these characters are used as ghosts within scenes. This film making technique seems to be all the rage as it was the same technique used in the Peter Sellers biopic. Nevertheless I found it to be inventive in its own right, and incredibly touching.
This is the kind of movie you watch once and then scour the movie rental shelves looking for Bedazzled or The Wrong Box.
All in all . a good evening.
Clark Richards 8/10.