Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Still Crazy (1998)

Director: Brian Gibson

Average user rating
1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

It's difficult to convey the deranged insanities of the rock experience: Rob Reiner managed it in This Is Spinal Tap and made us laugh. It's even harder to encapsulate that brief time when the crap falls away and group harmony prevails, as Alan Parker did in The Commitments. To do both is nearly a miracle; in Brian Gibson's film, with screenplay by comedy survivors Clement and La Frenais (who also scripted Parker's film), a first-rate cast and an assortment of musical talents pull off this race with the amplified devil. Strange Fruit are a late '70s middle league rock outfit seeking to re-form in the nervous late '90s; Robin Hood meets TV's Auf Wiedersehen Pet as Nighy's struggling solo artist reunites with Spall's tax-dodging drummer and Nail's bass-playing roofer. Through thin, thin, thin and a bit of thick, the lads try to rekindle the flame, propped up by Juliet Aubrey's long suffering manager and Connolly's Zappa-esque roadie. The jokes are good, the music loud, but what makes the film so special is that it tells you why you ever bought an album or queued for ten hours in the rain to see Alice Cooper.

Author: SGr 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • Rick Doyle said...
    Posted on Nov 09 2007 12:22 Still Crazy is wonderful. Repeated viewings never fail to bring a tear to my eye. A charming tale of second chances with a film soundtrack to rival the best of them.
    British film making at it's best.
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Brian Gibson

Producer: Amanda Marmot

Cast: Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy, Juliet Aubrey, Phil Daniels, Frances Barber, Phil Davis full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 95 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.