This one comes with an apology, as I seem to have slipped up - apparently it's a TV movie, something I only found out when I checked the IMDB this morning. The 76-minute runtime should have been a clue, I suppose, but I was curled up on the sofa after a long, boozy day out and all I was really thinking about was finding something that bore as little resemblance to Meet the Feebles as was humanly possible. I had something specific in mind but I couldn't find it, and The Rutles: All you need is cash was near the top of the DVD pile, so the decision was pretty much made for me.
The Rutles is an early example of the mockumentary genre - it might even be the earliest? It covers similar ground to This Is Spinal Tap, detailing the rise and fall of a fictional rock band. Where Spinal Tap takes its inspiration from the whole hair metal movement, however, The Rutles aims at a much narrower target (think four Liverpudlian moptops who were big in the 60s), and frequently hits it with dazzling precision.
It's all very watchable if you're into this sort of thing (and I am). The humour is cute, and the obligatory celebrity cameos only add to the charm. Here we have Mick and Bianca Jagger, plus a bunch of Saturday Night Live's then best and brightest, including Bill Murray, John Belushi and Gilda Radner.
Still, there won't be anything here you haven't seen before. There's the usual interviews with the band and the people close to them, the faked up news footage and album covers and the usual selection of musical parodies. Where The Rutles differs from most of the competition, however, is in the balance - the comedy here is a shade broader than in most similar movies, while the songs are so eerily accurate that they occasionally show up in my head masquerading as genuine Beatles numbers. Blame Neil Innes for this - he and Eric Idle might both occasionally be irritatingly smug, but my goodness, they have an ear for pastiche. I defy you to listen to what follows without experiencing at least a moment of confusion:
Worth a look, if only to see how little mockumentaries have changed over the past 40ish years.
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