With the resurgence of music from the 1970's and the continual touring and new albums from huge rock groups from that era -- such as The Rolling Stones, Kiss & Aerosmith -- it's high time someone delivered a clever jab at such aging musicians and performers. It's too bad "Still Crazy" isn't the best film for the job.
Something akin to a weak version of "This is Spinal Tap" combined with "The Commitments," "That Thing You Do" and nearly every other story about putting a band together that's made it to the silver screen, this awkwardly titled film has the correct intentions but its execution doesn't always hit the proper high notes.
Fleetingly funny and featuring the standard eclectic collection of what we used to call "hair farmers" (men with long, flowing manes), the film follows the usual plot -- courtesy of screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (who cowrote the fabulous "The Commitments") -- detailing the troubles and travails of assembling a rock band, their practicing and playing small gigs, and the usual clashing egos and creative differences that threaten to ruin their burgeoning shot at success.
The only way in which this film really strays from that course is by having this be the second time around for these characters. Although such a notion and the fact that the members are now middle-aged adds a few funny bits to the proceedings, there's not enough charm or comedy present to help this tempo-challenged picture that flounders whenever the group isn't on stage.
Speaking of which, although a few of the tunes -- as actually performed by members of the cast -- are decent enough and accurately representative of the era of glam rock, there's no one noteworthy song (such as the title track in "That Thing You Do"), nor covers of well-known songs (as in Alan Parker's aforementioned classic about an Irish band performing soul tunes) to appropriately electrify such moments.
Fortunately, the characters, while certainly not particularly novel for this sort of story, are delineated and interesting enough to compensate for the film's otherwise mediocre pace and delivery of its goods. The strongest performance by far comes from Bill Nighy. The British stage and small screen actor perfectly personifies the grandiose, yet flighty characteristics that are common -- at least in the public's eye -- of glam rock lead singers.
The always dependable Billy Connolly ("Her Majesty Mrs. Brown," TV's "Head of the Class") also lends his talents to a fun character who, as the band's roadie, is surprisingly more raucous than those for whom he works. The rest of the cast is decent in bringing their characters to life -- despite falling into the shadows of their more flamboyant co-stars -- although Stephen Rea ("The Crying Game") turns out not to be the film's central character despite his prominent introduction and screen-time.
Nonetheless, and other than the standard story arc of the band reuniting, touring and getting better and then coming apart at the seams, there's not much else present to adequately supplement the material. A long running gag of Beano running from whom he believes to be the tax lady provides sparse comic relief, and budding romances between several characters dry up and are forgotten before they can amount to anything.
Yet, they, and other moments such as Beano stating, "We didn't play the Hollywood Bowl? That's one of my most vivid memories," and shots of the band performing in tiny spaces not appropriate for extravagant glam rock performance (with them thus bumping into each other), are occasionally funny, but don't provide enough substance to make this film completely satisfying.
Finally, while some are calling this film the rock version of "The Full Monty" -- a somewhat appropriate comparison considering the "middle-aged men become performers" plot -- it's doubtful this film will catch on like that Oscar nominee.
For one, it doesn't have the humorously scandalous notion of over the hill, out of shape strippers. More importantly, however, and despite its obvious attempts, the film just isn't as clever, nor as charmingly funny. Not a bad movie by any means, it simply feels more like a one-hit wonder instead of an established group that turns out hit after hit. We give the otherwise mediocre "Still Crazy" a 5 out of 10.
![[Screen It]](https://www.screenit.com/images/screenit_subscriber_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
![[Around the World in 80 Days]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/around_the_world_in_80_days_2022_small.jpg)
![[Family Camp]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/family_camp_small.jpg)
![[Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/doctor_strange_in_the_multiverse_of_madness_small.jpg)