Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

STILL CRAZY is a film that I knew precious little about, save some of the cast members. Now having just seen it, I think it's an incredibly fun portrait of an aging rock band reliving their glory days. It follows the basic narrative trajectory that you would expect from this type of film, which is a good and a bad thing. It's good because it works with a tried-and-true formula that is entertaining, but also a little disappointing because it doesn't go out of its way to try anything new or outside-the-box. That being said, it executes the concept very well and benefits from revolving around a fictional band so that it doesn't have to be a slave to formula and history. The characters in the band (including the roadie) created by the principal actors were outstanding, and some of the best work I've seen from these people. They include Bill Nighy as the lead singer, Timothy Spall as the drummer, Stephen Rea as the keyboardist and Billy Connolly (of all people) as the roadie. They (and the other band members whose names I'm not familiar with) were all fully fleshed out and quite funny, perhaps none more so than Timothy Spall who has this great running gag which I won't spoil. They also had great chemistry on screen and made it seem like they had known each other for years. Last, but not least, the music in this film was amazing. All of it was original and I'm pretty sure that it was performed by the cast as well. The only time when the film falters, in my opinion, is the few moments in which it tries to be a little too sentimental. Again, it's par for the course when considering what genre this is, but it didn't completely work for me. Still, the finale was genuinely touching and mostly made up for the previous missteps. Overall, STILL CRAZY does suffer a bit from following the typical plot mechanics, but the performances and music are enough to highly recommend it.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have a solid hit rate as far as their TV work is concerned. However, their film work has been much more chequered (2008's The Bank Job was fine, the previous year's Across The Universe decidedly weak, for instance).Still Crazy, fortunately, is a solid success. It has a great story, excellent performances, a lot of humour, fabulous music and, above everything else, real heart.I savour "moments", and this film has one of them - just when everything is going pear-shaped at the festival reunion performance...Hugely enjoyable.

"Still Crazy" is without a doubt the greatest rock comedy of all-time. It has been erroneously compared to "This Is Spinal Tap", which it has no relation to. "Spinal Tap" is a satire (and, quite frankly, not a very good one, in spite of it's "outing" of many rock clichés). Unlike "Tap", "Still Crazy" is populated by great actors, great songs and great human situations. You CARE about the people in "Still Crazy". That's all that matters. Oh, yeah, the music's pretty damn good, too, written by Mick Jones of Foreigner and Chris Difford of Squeeze. American audiences were already familiar with Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), but would only later become familiar with Bill Nighy (Underworld, Love Actually, Pirates Of The Caribbean II) and Timothy Spall (the Harry Potter movies).

It's not without flaws, but even the flaws are charming. It's one of those films I can honestly watch several times in a row, and, despite having owned it for over a year, I still find nuances and bits I hadn't caught in prior viewings. The plot is basic. Washed-up 70's rockers have another chance at stardom. The secret is in the amazing actors and the fabulous music. There isn't a bad performance in this film. Bill Nighy is amazing, and Timothy Spall steals several scenes. Bruce Campbell only appears briefly, but it was enough to renew the crush I'd had on him at 13 after seeing "Romeo & Juliet". My only real complaint is that whoever did the casting felt that 29-year old Juliet Aubrey is a contemporary of the actors portraying the band members, who were in their 40's and 50's. Watch for Frances Barber in a brilliant but small role. The music is equally wonderful. I realize it was a bad time for music, but I'm amazed these songs didn't get radio airplay. I love the music so much I picked up a copy used from Amazon. It's not a great film, it's not a serious film, but it's a film of which you will not tire.