This complete waste of time seems to be rather badly patched together out of out-takes from the first film, new footage of Eric Idle and a bunch of talking head celebrity interviews.
The new Eric Idle footage scores the best and has the most laughs. However, jokes about tight trousers being the reason for the group's success get old and tiresome rather quickly.
Much of the celebrity interviews are inexplicable. Jewel fares the worst, seeming like she's not sure if she understands the joke, or if there even is one. Even if the Rutles were a real band I don't see how they could have possibly inspired people like Gary Shandling and Steve Martin. The problem here is that the musicians interviewed aren't funny and the comedians interviewed are out of place. Tom Hanks and Conan O' Brian fare best in gamely trying to play along, but the result is awkward, forced and quite often unfunny.
Like another person here mentioned I would like to have seen an update of the Rutles today, but with the Lennon assassination, it would be in poor taste to parody the Beatles post-breakup years. Much of this film feels like it's unfinished, and I wonder if Eric Idle was considering filming new footage and then scaling down the celebrity interviews. In it's current state, it's a sorry mess and it's not hard to see why it sat on the shelf for a couple of years.
Stick to the original, and forget this exists.
The new Eric Idle footage scores the best and has the most laughs. However, jokes about tight trousers being the reason for the group's success get old and tiresome rather quickly.
Much of the celebrity interviews are inexplicable. Jewel fares the worst, seeming like she's not sure if she understands the joke, or if there even is one. Even if the Rutles were a real band I don't see how they could have possibly inspired people like Gary Shandling and Steve Martin. The problem here is that the musicians interviewed aren't funny and the comedians interviewed are out of place. Tom Hanks and Conan O' Brian fare best in gamely trying to play along, but the result is awkward, forced and quite often unfunny.
Like another person here mentioned I would like to have seen an update of the Rutles today, but with the Lennon assassination, it would be in poor taste to parody the Beatles post-breakup years. Much of this film feels like it's unfinished, and I wonder if Eric Idle was considering filming new footage and then scaling down the celebrity interviews. In it's current state, it's a sorry mess and it's not hard to see why it sat on the shelf for a couple of years.
Stick to the original, and forget this exists.