Not Only But Always… (Telefilm)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Telefilm: C
The story of the life and comic partnership of Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore is an interesting one, one that writer/director Terry
Johnson’s Not Only But Always… (2004) tells in his recent TV movie with
Rhys Ifans as Cook and Aidan McArdie as Moore.
However, looking at this for the second time, I still do not buy any of
it for a second. There is just
something missing here to enable the viewer to suspend disbelief and the crux
of it is that you never believe the two ever have the chemistry to become the
hit team they did, even if you like the individual performances.
In addition, either actor did not convince this critic and
it never feels like England of the time, or anything else of the time. Perhaps they did not have the rights to add
or feature certain things that would have made it feel like more of the period
or were trying to make sure it did not look like an Austin Powers film,
but that is no excuse for the flatness or dullness that ensures. Another bad point was having the telefilm
open with the actors as the characters go into a movie house and watch this
film there. That kind of biopic
deconstruction is always a problem and recently hurt the much better Kevin
Spacey vehicle Beyond The Sea (reviewed elsewhere on this site) about
Bobby Darin. See that or Acorn Media’s Beyond
The Fringe with the real Moore and Cook instead.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 x 1/16 X 9 image is also
a disappointment, with a video phoniness here and there, plus a flatness and
lack of detail throughout. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo has very weak Pro Logic surrounds and the original music is
Colin Towns is weak. Extras include an
also-disappointing audio commentary by Johnson, plus text on the actors and the
men they played.
- Nicholas Sheffo
