What: When you try to film an unfilmable novel, you have a few options. 1) You can put blinders on and forge ahead with your adaptation while yelling, "La la la, I can't hear yoooouuu!" 2) You can alter the story to such a degree that it no longer resembles the original source material. 3) Or you can choose the path that Michael Winterbottom did and go all meta. Tristram Shandy is, yes, based on the novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne. But really it's a movie about making a movie based on the novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, and how utterly impossible it is.
Comparable to: Charlie Kaufman? Are you sure you weren't involved in this?
Representative quote: "This was a post-modern classic written way before there was any modern to be post about."
You might not like it if: You can't stand self-referential loops like Steve Coogan playing Steve Coogan playing Tristram Shandy (and also his father, Walter).
How to get it: Easy to find the DVD. And, if you're interested, the book is in the public domain.
Connections to previous Wreckage: We have a Brit actor extravaganza here. A quick sample of the cast: Keeley Hawes, who was in a miniseries adaption of the Dickens novel Our Mutual Friend (Rec. #88); Dylan Moran, star of the series Black Books (Rec. #68); Kelly Macdonald, who was in State of Play (Rec. #104); Shirley Henderson, from Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (Rec. #108); and Rob Brydon, who is absolutely delightful in Gavin and Stacey (Rec. # . . . wait, I haven't done that yet?!).
Special note: The U.K. title of the film is the U.S. subtitle --- A Cock and Bull Story. Presumably they changed it because they thought U.S. audiences would get too giggly about the original title. Frankly, though, Michael Winterbottom probably has other things to worry about.
This is another one that's on my very, very, very long Netflix queue. And U.S. audiences are just too damn giggly, period.
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