Stella Street

This movie is a great comedy of the life of super-stars that move to a rural area of London, where their lives take many strange turns. The rumor is quite mellow. There are no "in your face" jokes like Americans consider comedy. This is more along the lines of subtle humor, more British I would say. The characters are ALL over-dramatized, in which I am sure the director intentionally did. Each character is acted in such a way that a person watching this movie can tell the director takes a part of the actual actor and accentuates it incredibly. (For instance, if you are a David Bowie fan, you will notice he sings almost every one of his lines.) I loved this movie and have watched it several times, though I admit, this movie is not for everyone, but it is very worth renting.

shame on columbia for ignoring this little gem of a film, which proves you do not need big budgets to make a witty and wonderfully entertaining film. better than the TV shows, this is made with style, affection and a lot of talent. even when the voices and looks are not spot on they get the feel and the manner of the stars they so brilliantly mimic. when i see the amount of rubbish that is released in cinemas i find it baffling that something like this goes straight to DVD and the on TV, and in both cases the powers that be decide not to promote it. this is as good as spinal tap was on the music scene quite different i know but still very knowing and spot on. the first time i saw it was with people who had no idea what this was about but still fed about laughing all the way thru, do yourself a big favour buy or rent it today

the 10 minute TV episodes were good fun, in the times before the dreadful john culshaw or one-trick alastair mcgowan, but the 75minute film seemed old, trying to cash in on celebrity impressions that Sessions/Cornwall helped mould themselves.

they employ the talented ronni ancona (good to see her without mcgowan to bring her down) but used her sparingly, often as just a prop, to save sessions/cornwall from cross dressing too much, and i only found out she played so many different characters in the credits.

There is a sort of storyline, which i guess you need in a 75min feature, but they end up re-writing all the past series to make it work, virtually eschewing the TV work in favour of the film.

it passed the time, and made you appreciate good impressions, but i would have preferred a re-run of the tv series.

In the 1960's, the Beatles took up residence in a small suburban street starting a minor trend for celebrities moving into the unassuming Stella Street. Decades later, in the 1990's, Michael Caine convinces Jack Nicholson to move into the street, bringing a load of other Hollywood stars to the area including Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and two of the Rolling Stones. However the influx of stars brings burglars, tourists and a criminal plot to rob the stars of all their money.

If you have never seen the 10 minute programmes that make up the series Stella Street, this film version is certainly not the place to start! The rough impressions and rather loose plots and storylines will almost certainly not be to everyone's tastes - a fact that was reflected in the film going straight to video and being screened on the BBC within a week of it being released. Can't understand the logic to that myself - why not just wait a few months at least and keep it quiet, that way at least fans will buy it not knowing it was due to TV.

Anyway, not being a massive fan, I forced myself to wait the week to see it on TV and save myself £15 (nice job BBC - that'll recoup your million investment!). The film manages to do a better job at creating a plot than series three did, but is still a bit episodic until the final 25 minutes where the stars lose their cash. The first 10 minutes will also be quite meaningless for fans as it just sets up the street and why all the stars are there. In some ways the film actually steps backwards as we have Dustin Hoffman moving into Hill's house here where he already had in the series. It still works pretty well though; the characters are funny for the same reasons they were in the series - being juxtapositioned with the English suburb and having their characters and mannerisms exaggerated. If you enjoy the series for what it is then it is likely you will enjoy this film. The plot may not be great but that shouldn't be a problem if you are used to the episodic nature of the series.

The cast (all three of them) are really good. The impressions are never spot on but many of them sound pretty good and the fact that they aren't the actual people is part of the joke! Sessions and Cornwall work together really well and the `shooting from back of head' trick when they are playing two characters in the same scene is not overused or very obvious. The addition of Ancona is important to move the plot forward, but she also gets a few funny parts as Madonna and Posh Spice.

Overall I enjoyed this film but then I have always enjoyed the series. If you are a fan then this will be good enough for you but it is an acquired taste that will likely alienate as many first time viewers as it pleases.

Yeah,but didn't you love the way they have updated some of the characters. David Bowie was spot-on! Caine, Jagger and Richards look better than ever. Dustin Hoffman was the best! looking for a "meager room".

It is mostly old material, updated for a new cinema audience though. A good way for those who don't know about Stella Street to get into it.

Sadly we didn't get to see Dirk Bogarde, who is another character they get just right.

I do agree with the point about Ronni Ancona, her characters are difficult to identify, and poor in comparison to Sessions and Cornwell.