| When Still Crazy
was nominated for two Golden Globe awards (Best
Picture [Comedy] and Best Original Song [Comedy])
in January, most people had never heard of it. At
best, they knew that it was about a popular
‘70s British glam-rock combo named Strange
Fruit, and that the film showed them trying to
hit the road after being disbanded for several
years in an attempt to ride the current wave of
retro popularity. Early viewers described the
film as This is Spinal Tap meets The
Full Monty. In its heyday, Strange
Fruit had its share of problems. Original
frontman Keith Lovell died and was replaced by
the less charismatic Ray Simms (Golden Satellite
nominee Bill Nighy, FairyTale: A True Story),
who always had trouble living in Keith’s
shadow. Keith’s brother, guitarist Brian,
was institutionalized years ago and is presumed
to be dead as the film opens. The remaining band
members have been out of the music game for
years, but are itching to regroup once keyboard
player Tony Costello (Stephen Rea, The Butcher
Boy) suggests they give it a go.
The
hilarious Billy Connolly (Mrs. Brown) is
underused as a veteran roadie (he’s also the
narrative voice of the film), but of more
interest is the casting of actor-turned-director
Bruce Robinson as Brian. Robinson hasn’t
acted since the late ‘70s, but did write the
recent debacle In Dreams, as well as the
Oscar-winning The Killing Fields, and
directed Jennifer Eight. Robinson looks
eerily like a washed-up rock star. Also worth a
mention is the performance of Jimmy Nail (Evita)
as the Strange Fruit bassist. Actually, his
performance isn’t noteworthy at all, but he
does look like a cross between Anthony LaPaglia
in So I Married an Axe Murderer and
MTV’s Tom Green.
Directed
by Brian Gibson (What’s Love Got to do
with It), Crazy is honestly not much
like the "mock"-documentary-style Tap.
The only part that was even remotely like Monty
was when the band auditions a young "hired
gun" to play guitar for their tour, in place
of Brian. Actually, it’s probably more akin
to The Commitments, which Crazy
writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais also
penned. Unfortunately, Crazy isn’t
nearly as entertaining.
1:40
-  for language,
sexuality and drug content
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