Simon and Garfunkel they ain't

reviewed Sat, 30 Jan 1999 18:25:15 EST

The phrase "amiably derivative" was used by another critic about another movie, but it suits Still Crazy to a T. This story of a '70s glam rock band that decides to reunite after 20 years will remind you of every band movie from The Blues Brothers to This Is Spinal Tap to The Commitments, though it's so low-key and good-natured that I feel like a bit of a crank to point that out. Unfortunately, it doesn't exactly go up to 11, qualitywise.

It's got all the clichéd rock characters -- the Yoko Ono-ish wife of one band member, the troubled genius à la Brian Wilson, the vain lead singer, the crazy drummer -- and its plot is disappointingly predictable (basically take the "We're gettin' the band back together" part of Blues Brothers, then tack on the "watch it all fall apart" part of The Commitments). There were some laughs, but it should have been funnier, more daring, original, outrageous. The only consistently entertaining performance comes from Scottish comic Billy Connolly as a grizzled roadie, though John Nighy is very good as the befuddled lead singer.

Still Crazy tries to tackle more serious, poignant subjects than the films mentioned above, but by and large, it doesn't succeed because it doesn't give us real characters we can give a damn about. This might be a decent rental on a slow night, but there's really no reason to see it in the theater. Even the music sucks, but not in a good way like in Spinal Tap. And it should have been shorter. A lot shorter. Though it felt a lot longer than it actually was. Maybe I'm just cranky because all that Peter Frampton-style guitar screeching gave me a headache.

Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search