Still Crazy

Released 1998
Stars Stephen Rea, Billy Connolly, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy, Juliet Aubrey, Helena Bergström, Bruce Robinson
Directed by Brian Gibson

"Still Crazy" is a kinder, gentler version of "This Is Spinal Tap," telling the story of a 1970s rock band that tries for a reunion 20 years after its last disastrous concert. Two decades have not been kind to the surviving members of Strange Fruit, [and] none of the survivors remembers the old days with much affection. There was jealousy, anger and betrayal among band members, and the drugs and lifestyle didn't help. Not so reluctantly, the Fruit agree to do a "test tour" of Holland as a preliminary to a big '70s revival concert. They need the money. But they are all much decayed since their glory days, and only by not shaving and letting their hair grow rank are they able to conceal how bad they look--by looking worse.

There aren't a lot of plot surprises in "Still Crazy" (the biggest surprise is telegraphed early on), and the ending is more or less as expected--indeed, as decreed by the comeback genre. But the characters are sharply defined and well-written, and we come to like them. Twenty years ago they may have seemed like unapproachable rock gods, but now we see them as touching and vulnerable: Once they could do something fairly well, and now they have arrived at the stage in life where they can do it better--if they can do it at all.

Summary by Roger Ebert