I cannot fathom a universe where The Rutles AND Spinal Tap are being poo-pooed as not being funny. This absolutely astonishes me. I have to weigh in at great length lest these opinions be the only ones standing.
Except I like lame puns. But I guess I have to acknowledge that they're lame.
No, you don't. I hate the notion, and will never, ever accept it, that there are "higher" and "lower" forms of comedy, and that to have an, ahem, "refined" sense of humor you have to only laugh at the "higher" forms of comedy and have to turn your nose up at the "lower" forms i.e. slapstick, punning, etc. "Shabby Road" -- maybe a bad pun, but "Let It Rot," released simultaneously as an album, a movie, and a lawsuit? That's funny. On several levels. Some of the puns are stupid -- "Tragical History Tour" is pretty lame, granted -- but some are dead on, i.e. the song / movie / idea behind "Ouch." The pun portion of the affair hits and it misses.
I disagree heartily that the humor in the movie could be somehow "more satirical" or "appeal more to Beatles fans" -- there are an insane amount of dead-on moments of parody and/or satire, and I'd argue it goes maybe a little TOO deep for some cursory Beatle fans. Examples: Like or hate Yoko, and I love her deeply, the depiction of nazi-uniform-clad Chastity, obsessed with dropping art from airplanes, is right on. The character of Leggy Mountbatten, while not really anything remotely like Brian Epstein, satirizes him on several levels -- the obsession with trousers, the sad, tragic move to Australia which causes Nasty to be shocked and stunned, the failed attempts at other groups (including Arthur Hodgson and the Kneecaps). Leggy's mom -- best moment in the film, the pinched, severe performance given there. ALL the music is tremendous, and Neil Innes does a masterful job re-writing the Beatles songs, with a few of them -- "Doubleback Alley" particularly -- almost standing alone as songs. And the entire last section where the group are suing each other, one of them pretends to be dead for a tax dodge, and Ron Decline comes in to take over the group's finance hits at the heart of the demise of the group. Its dead on.
Oh yeah -- the scene where Dirk McQuickly is attempting to write a song for his wife, played by Bianca Jagger -- slays. Totally unfairly but hysterically nails Paul as a ditty-writer. "I love...I love you....It's YOU I love...today is our wedding day...."
Add in Eric Idle's hysterical narrator character -- and I'm not going to subscribe to the "Eric Idle Has Proven Himself To Be An Ass Therefore We Must Hate Everything He's Ever Done" thing, either, he's absolutely a riot when he's explaining how the various Rutles met -- and some righteously deadpan performances from Halsey and Fataar, not to mention some great cameos from Ron Wood, Mick Jagger (whose interview segment is also very enthusiastic and funny), and you've got a movie chock full not only of great parody but just some killer comedy moments. I myself laughed until I puked on a recent viewing, and that's after having seen it 100+ times.
And I shouldn't even need to mention the amazing visit to New Orleans -- "Where did Rutle music originate?" "Next door. At the Ruttling Orange Peel." Who of course is lying. He's always lying. Last week, he said he started the Everly Brothers.
God, the great lines are too many to count:
"They persuaded him to change his name, to save time, and his haircut, to save brylcream. He became simply....Barry Wom."
"I'd like to be a hairdresser. Or two. I'd like to be two hairdressers."
"Come with me inside, or as they say in Hamburg...'mit mir gekommen....inside.'"
"His left hand didn't know who his right hand was doing."
"The press, as usual, grabbed the wrong end of the stick and proceeded to beat about the bush with it."
"I think it was the trousers. Well, they were so....tight..."
"Even as the quiet one, Stig O'Hara hadn't spoken a word since 1965."
"Their first album took two hours to make. Their second took even longer."
And the best bit: Barry Wom's haunting balled "When You Find The Girl Of Your Dreams In The Arms Of Some Scotsmen From Hull."
I could keep going. The thing isn't anything like a masterpiece, but is one of the funniest rock movies I've ever seen, certainly, and DEFINITELY holds up to repeated viewings. There are so many hysterical bits and insanely right-on moments of satire, and some just plain funny writing and directing. Comedy gold.
Author
