Not Only But Always

Brilliant study of comic genius Peter Cook and his relationship with Dudley Moore.

Hilarious, disturbing and genuinely moving.

The performance from Rhys Ifans is one of the greatest ever given to celluloid and should clean up at the awards. At times it is difficult to remember that I was watching a drama and not a documentary - so credible is Ifans. I have never seen an actor give as convincing a performance where I actually believed I was watching Peter Cook rather than an actor playing him.

Likewise, Aidan McCardle is also very strong as Dudley Moore.

Terry Johnston's script and direction blends light and shade and is always imaginative.

An absolute gem of a movie.

10 out of 10

The problem with biopics, particularly of those in living memory, is that they rely so heavily upon impression (rather than interpretation) that you can end up spending most of your two hours or so asking: "Who's that supposed to be?" No such problem with Rhys Ifans and Aidan McArdle's Peter Cook and Dudley Moore respectively - particularly when playing them on the point of disintegration in the 70s. Ifans has Pete's cold, almost trance-like, stare and fey way with a cigarette to perfection while McArdle (like Moore) grows in stature throughout the proceedings: which is quite a feat given his size.

As a re-imaginer of popular culture and the relationships within it, writer/director Terry Johnson is a past master. His central conceit of having the monochrome Dagenham philosophers Pete 'n' Dud watch a colour film about Cook and Moore's lives is inspired, particularly as Pete points out the post-modern methods being used to his chip-gobbling midget mate.

(By the way, if you think I'm hung up about Dud/McArdle's height, you wait 'til you hear what Pete/Ifans has to say about it.)

All the essential moments, particularly of the 60s, are highlighted here - Beyond The Fringe, David Frost, Eleanor Bron, Not Only But Also, etc. - and checked off. Yet still there's a sense of something missing, and it's not just the fact that the script highlights Cook over Moore.

At heart, rather like the middle of a doughnut, there is nothing of substance here. Certainly nothing that you couldn't have learnt from the brilliant documentary "At A Slight Angle To The Universe". Instead, what you have is Cook as a reptilian philanderer blessed with genius and Moore as a hectoring fishwife (the old "comedy duo as marriage" cliché is well and truly overplayed here) who also happens to be a trouper.

Where is the joie de vivre and charm that Cook and Moore both possessed as well as the self-pity and alcoholism that this film would have us wallow in? Despite some clever lines (and curiously rewritten classic sketches), Johnson seems to be more interested in what tore the two men apart rather than what brought, and kept, them together in the first place.

That said, the church choir singing "Goodbye-ee" will live with me forever.

I only caught the last hour of this due to having to work late last night (boo hoo!), but both Rhys Ifans and Aidan McArdle were fantastic.

I remember Peter Cook from my youth and I thought it uncanny how Ifans reproduced the frustrated genius of the man. As for the production as a whole, it was a very insightful look into how Cook had difficulty coping with Moore's success away from him, and his own problems with matching his earlier career later on in life. (Personally I think he was extremely bright, but was handicapped by idleness.)

Now, I've seen a number of films that have featured Ifans. Perhaps I have been unlucky and only caught the bad ones, but this has to be the first I've seen him in that I've enjoyed. The films incidentally were: Love, Honour and Obey (where he was quite good as a bad-tempered gangster, but the film itself was pretty dire), Twin Town (awful), 51st State (a nightmare) and Notting Hill (sugary nonsense where Ifans was playing a sort of "Uncle Tom" slob of a Welshman to Hugh Grant's sophisticated Englishman - why does scriptwriter Richard "Blackadder" Curtis laugh at the Welsh so much?).

But until last night, the best thing I've seen Ifans in was on stage - in Accidental Death of an Anarchist (admittedly Dario Fo's play is one that an actor can have a lot of fun with) at the Donmar Warehouse a few years ago. Hopefully, he will be more discerning choosing his parts in future. If he does then I reckon he could be a future Guinness (but please don't get involved with Star Wars).

OK so i haven't seen this yet but i really want to because of the only reason i can think of. i was the hot dog guy on the side of the street! i was an extra on this movie an my parts were filmed in Auckland City New Zealand. it was a great experience for me and above all of that i actually got 2 meet this fine talented actor, Rhys Ifans! He is great in all that he does. High respect held by me for this great individual, i was also in other scenes of this film. Working on this film and meeting Rhys in the flesh has made my acting passion stronger than ever and i know one day (hopefully soon) some one will see my true acting talent! Rhys, thank you so much. u may not remember me but i'll never forget what you have given me and what you did for me that day on set. Where can i find my copy??

Johno Hartigan

After a slightly shaky start this dramatisation of the life of Peter Cook, centring on his relationship with his sometime comic partner Dudley Moore, became thoroughly engrossing. Credit must go to Rhys Ifans, an actor who I previously only knew as the irritating Welsh hippie type in Notting Hill, who caught the look, voice and mannerisms of Peter Cook perfectly. Aidan McArdle was also excellent as Dudley Moore, an amiable type who was put through hell by the self-loathing Cook. Terry Johnson's script was also very good; although some telescoping of incidents occurred, this can be excused in the name of dramatic license. In all an interesting look at a man with undoubted intelligence and talent who always wanted something more but was never sure what it was he was looking for.