Not Only But Always

If you're middle-aged like me, Pete and Dud were always there, from the new dawn of 1963 when Cook almost single-handedly turned Supermac into Silly Old Mac, and we felt meritocratic Britain had arrived, to the cynical exploitative desperation of Derek and Clive 1976, after Python had run its course, and alternative vision looked just as wonky as all the other optical aberrations.

In between, Stars were real talents that burnt brightly and radiated electromagnetic energy. Miller was Renaissance man, Bennett the new literato, Cook debunker-in-chief and Frost the entrepreneur of a new Britain in a way that oddly pre-parodies New Labour as if Cook had written the ending. And Dud was Pete's mate.

As for America, who knows why Beyond the Fringe worked there: we learn nothing from this piece.

In fact we learn nothing much to form the setting I describe, which I think is what makes this film eery and sad, a portrait of a fading person rather than his timeless talent. Like all such men, Cook's contribution to the canon of British culture is more than the sordid banality of his flawed life, except in the realisation that such works have always demanded the time and pressure at the typewriter that breaks all but the most powerful personal bonds. Or that to be this much of a funny djinn maybe you do have to be vapid on the inside. Above all, I think the production should have followed Cook's own monochrome observation and started at the end. Sad lives that end chronologically in bathos, as most do, do not mean sad work. Vapid? Yes, Dud, I am a man who reads his reviews with the Thesaurus beside me. But I only fleetingly reveal my lack of relationship with my parents even to you.

I can't decide whether it's a flaw of the film. Surely you have to have been there to feel what it means? And surely that doesn't include the magnificent Ifans and McArdle, which makes our surrogate comics' contribution all the more stunning: they hadn't left the nursery long before Bo Derek gave Dud back the ego Pete had wrung from him. But I do wonder if "...but Always" in itself makes Cook accessible to a new generation, and perhaps that's a shame: it would have been easy enough to sew in two or three complete sketches so that we can gauge for ourselves how it works, after all the *writing* at least stands timeless, even if the performances and the man are gone.

As it is, we just had repeated, diminishing echos of MacMillan and the one-legged man, echos that mean something only to those who were there for big bang. Whilst this can make good art it also loses most of the potential audience and is therefore by definition elitist.

Speaking of elitist, Peter Cook was clearly as haughty and arrogant as any, but the Cook portrayed here is a snob of the worst kind to boot, and sneers at Moore and Bennett for being mere Grammar School boys, or is any ammunition acceptable? Well, lack of legs is, so perhaps none of it is as alternative as we might imagine. The Private Eye of Ingrams, Rushton and buddies, into which Cook fitted so deliciously, was only too willing to admit that, satirists or not, the new generation Establishment was merely reinventing itself, irreverent but irrevolute, and irrelevant if wildly entertaining.

Overall, this one could just run. Just because it tantalises, presents an image for the curious, leaves unanswered questions about the man's work for a new generation, portrays a dazzling spectacle of a person nearly in view, perhaps it will invite new interest in his writing and performance. Or perhaps there's nothing there but the ghost of a time long gone, by a savage critic also gone.

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).

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.

Though I'm far too young to have ever enjoyed the comedy of Cook and Moore during their lifetimes, I'm fortunate enough to have been introduced to the Derek and Clive recordings and through that much more of their work. As such, I was a very big fan going into this.

For those not aware, Not Only But Always details the comedy duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, who might well have invented comedy itself with the subsequent influence they had. The film takes the viewer on a journey from their first meeting to Cook's death, spanning the length of their comedic partnership.

Certainly relying primarily on its characters, Not Only But Always gives an objective portrayal of the highs and lows of their tumultuous pairing. The relationship between Cook and Moore is accurately shown as desperate, frustrated, anger-ridden and brilliant, the uglier sides of the story never avoided. Their alternations between teary eyed laughs and teary eyed screams provide an excellent portrayal of this infamously difficult couple. Both leading actors do a fantastic job in creating this fascinating and heartbreaking dynamic, the irritating pitfalls of Cook's personality splendidly relived by Rhys Ifans. It is impossible not to sympathize with both characters in their respective plights; laugh at the audacious brilliance of Cook's one-liners; and wet oneself in delight at the hilarious exchanges between the two. The story is informative and entertaining, mixing well the real life recorded incidents with the filmmaker's perceptions of the likely conversations and incidents occurring behind closed doors.

A faithful and compelling biopic, Not Only But Always moves a little too fast at times, its storyline feeling rushed at points. In spite of this, the combination of hilarity and difficulty in watching these men tear each other apart provides us with an unmissable viewing experience which will hopefully lead all who see it to fall in love with the work of these two great men.

This biopic assumes the audience knows the story already, so it doesn't elaborate on certain aspects of the story. If you did not know that, later in his life, Peter Cook was pretending to be Sven, a man who lives in a lighthouse, and was calling a late night radio show, you would not understand the scene early in the movie. Certain things in Peter Cook's life aren't mentioned at all, like his brief success in American television with the show "The Two of Us." Nevertheless, as biopics go, this is one of the best. Great acting! Rhys Ifans captures Peter Cooks mannerisms and that unique look he had in his eyes. Aidan McArdle captures Moore's voice, but he is not doing an impression. He is great in the role. The movie does not, to me, explain any of Cook's motives. If you did not know anything of his life and just saw this, you would think he was just an arrogant twit, in love with himself, who enjoyed nothing more than putting down Dudley. Still I would recommend renting the DVD and watching it twice. The second time you watch it, watch it with the commentary on.