Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Dan1863Sickles Somehow my brother and I got hold of the soundtrack album before we actually saw the TV special. The funny thing is that while the comedy bits are really funny (most of them) the songs are actually much better and stick in my mind to this day. The songs from the early period, like "Ouch!" and "Hold My Hand" are okay, but they really can't capture the excitement and energy of the Beatlemania period. But as the story continues, the darker, sadder, more pessimistic songs are actually better than what the Beatles were doing at that stage in their careers. Case in point: "Living In Hope," a late-period Ringo song, of the type you might hear on the White Album. "I grew up in the country/beside a chicken shack/then I left for the city/and I didn't look back." Really gets Ringo trying to write a country song and sounding silly, yet somehow knowing he's silly and having the time of his life! "Got no woman/or a steady job/feeling like a cowboy/and looking like a slob!/But I'm living in hope . . ." This was such a great song I had it on tape for years. Then again there was "Love Life," which totally captures the silly side of the "All You Need Is Love" type of statement. The fade of the song is just "Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love/Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love." Fall over laughing as they repeat about 100 times!Even the sad songs, like "Cheese and Onions" really capture the fall of the Beatles, as you hear the weariness and disgust creeping in. "I have always thought in the back of my mind/cheese and onions/I have always thought that the world was unkind/cheese and onions." Totally captures John Lennon at his most bitter and cynical, but still with the odd touch of humor. "Man and machine/Keep yourself clean/Or be a has-been/Like the dinosaurs."The music was so great it didn't even seem like a parody, but more a meditation on the genius of the Beatles.

tavm After years of reading about this movie, I finally saw The Rutles: All You Need is Cash on YouTube just now. Monty Python member Eric Idle created and wrote this mockumentary about a Beatles-like group originally as a filmed sketch on "Rutland Weekend Television". That sketch would eventually make its American debut on "Saturday Night Live" when he hosted the show during its second season. Lorne Michaels, producer of that show, liked what he saw and agreed to help produce a television special of this group for a 90 minute prime time spot. So with Idle and Gary Weis-"SNL" filmmaker at the time-directing and Rutles member Neil Innes writing the tunes-inspired by the Beatles songs, of course-and cameos by the likes of Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, fellow Python Michael Palin, and "SNL"ers like Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, along with writers/bit players Al Franken & Tom Davis, and Michaels himself, oh, and also former Beatle George Harrison who I didn't recognize in his makeup, this was quite a funny and entertaining show that I enjoyed highly especially when they played with certain happenings like having their manager quit to go to Australia for a teaching position instead of killing himself or mentioning Bob Dylan introducing them to a strange substance-called tea! There's plenty more funny stuff but I'll just now say that I loved The Rutles: All You Need is Cash and highly recommend it if you love The Beatles and great comedy.

secondtake The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)This might be a necessary rite of passage for those who love the Beatles, or those who love "This is Spinal Tap" and other mockumentaries. Because this set the pattern, and a rather low bar of professionalism, for all that followed. It's not a great movie but it has great moments.Those moments include the extended interviews with Mick Jagger (and to a lesser extent Paul Simon). When each of these people first appear it's a thrill, when the reappear the surprise is gone and you realize the surprise is most of it. That the famous real stars were willing to get in on the gag is a great twist of fictional history.There are also other little snippets--not enough of them, but good ones, like Bill Murray being a crazy (typically) radio announcer, and an odd and overacted scene with John Belushi. Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner show up and so even does Bianca Jagger. These are quick and fun cameos, and the more of these the better.Central throughout is Eric Idle, the director and writer, and the one consistency in it all as the traveling reporting telling the documentary tale of the Pre-Fab Four. Some of the camera tricks are really funny, and the general dead pan delivery is good.All of this is great stuff and it's a lot, and if you could make a shorter mockumentary with the cream of the movie you'd have a pretty solid film. What drags it down is partly avoidable, party not: all the songs. We hear a good 15 or 20 Beatles-style homages or send-ups with these four mimics, and it's always interesting for ten seconds, hearing the slight twists to the famous riffs or melodies, seeing how they set the stage (with a little real footage now and then to make it even more real). But it wears thin after a minute, and sometimes the full three minutes is played out and it's just too long. And it happens a lot.It's a fun ride and if you can chill or chitchat during some of the drawn out parts you'll quickly be jerked into attention by some new twist.

RaiderJack When I first saw this about 25 years ago, I had only recently discovered Monty Python and was captivated by the mature, wry humor prevalent in their work.The Rutles, a mockumentary which takes a rather satiric look at the phenomenon known as the Beatles, is an excellent vehicle for Eric Idle with a stellar supporting cast from some of his Monty Python pals as well as cameos from the likes of John Belushi and Gilda Radner. These two cameos alone make it worth the price of admission.It is obvious that the Beatles are the object of Idle's scorn but it is by far one of the funniest parodies to come along in a long time. I was thrilled to see it has been released on DVD and if you are a fan of wry, British, humor coming from the likes of Idle, you are definitely in for a treat! A must have!!