Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie

This film was so much more than I expected. It not only charts John's career in the music business, but it gives a great insight into the man himself and what drives him. It also gives those who surround him a chance to share their opinions about the UK's favourite Micro-star. By turns this movie is funny, informative, thought provoking and even moving. I laughed out loud at some parts and very nearly cried at others. On top of the emotional roller-coaster, the story of John's exploits was for me, a trip down memory lane as I recognized events I had been to, as well as others I'd only heard about. Apparently, the original rough-cut was seven and a half hours long, and I can well believe it. Somehow, this was edited down into the final product, to create a fast-paced film which leaves you instantly eager to get your hands on the DVD, to see the bits they didn't use. I can't wait! All-in-all this is a fantastic film. Watch it - you won't be disappointed!

This is the story of John Otway's rise and fall and fall and fail and fall and fail. He dreamed a dream and probably should have stayed in bed.

Is this movie funnier than Spinal Tap? Yes, because it's true. Is this movie more tragic than Macbeth? Yes, because it's true. Is Otway the world's greatest Rock'n'Roll failure? It's harsh but fair. However Otway has a fan base that is dedicated to transforming his failures into success. His fans have moved mountains, trains and chart positions! They have sung, sweated and smiled. This story is as much there's as it is his.

Watch this movie. It will make you smile but more than that, it will go to Otway's head and inspire him to fail some more :-)

John Otway is a genuine man and a dreamer and I respect that. A lot of his songs are terrible and yet a lot of them are superb.

This movie is well worth seeing. It is hilarious, endearing, a little emotional and confirms that John is actually an inspiration.

I discovered Otway about 13 years ago on a copy of the 'Old Grey Whistle Test' DVD - He was performing 'Really Free'. I'd never actually seen the famous footage until this movie, where it is used like a running gag.

Anyway, if you're a fan of rock 'n' roll, success, failure or hair brained schemes - you should go see this movie.

If you have not yet experienced John Otway - you should go see this movie and then buy a ticket to one of his gigs next time he's in your town. I guarantee it will be the first of many you attend.

PS: David Crabtree as Deadly - The Roadie. The best bit is where he runs over all the glass and cuts his feet, oh wait! That was Die Hard.

A genuinely funny film featuring Aylesbury's Two-hit Twit and First Man of Failure, John Otway, conducting a masterclass for bemused schoolchildren, to show them How Not to Be a Success. A case of "Mothers, tell your children not to do what I have done", to quote the B-side of a certain Top Ten hit. This film quells any doubts that Otway might be in danger of becoming more sensible as he ages and is probably the only movie in history where nobody attending the premiere could predict the ending, which was still in production. This was a brilliant twist and a big gamble; full credit should go to the editors for pulling it off.

Otway the Movie should win awards. I can't wait for the DVD!

John Otway is the most unlikely pop star of all time. Self deprecating and refreshingly honest (he constantly refers to himself as a prat)- this musically inept buffoon leaps around like a cross between Basil Faulty and Bob Dylan on acid.

After deciding at an early age he wanted to be famous, Otway initially teamed up in the mid 1970s with 'Wild' Willy Barrett an accomplished guitarist of some notoriety to form the ill fated duo 'Otway & Barrett'. Following a painful breakthrough performance on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' (where Otway fell from an amplifier crushing his testicles in front of millions of TV viewers) the pair scored chart success with their debut hit 'Really Free'.

Otway recorded a solo follow up (which flopped) and Barrett (unsurprisingly) left the act (this set a theme - Barrett re-joined Otway and left again numerous times over the next 35 years). After securing a huge signing on fee to his recording contract - Otway buys a Bentley motor car (he can't drive but as he tells us 'it looks great outside the house when I ride home on my bicycle').

The film charts Otway's endeavours to find the elusive second hit, and takes the viewer on a journey through one disaster after another as Otway attempts to catapult himself to super-stardom (only to fail again and again and again). Otway explains how he recorded a single with three 'mystery' copies that had no vocal track (whoever bought one was promised a live performance in their living room). How he wrote a book outlining his 'success from failure' model. We hear how he formed his Big Band (comprising Otway and 4 others).

And finally (to coincide with his fiftieth birthday).... when it seemed the second hit would never come... how he mobilised his loyal fan base to beat the 'stage managed' British chart system that refused to 'allow' him a hit - and saw him finally and triumphantly reach the UK Top 10 with Bunsen Burner. The 'B' side was recorded with 1000 fans heckling Otway through a hilarious version of 'House of the Rising Sun'. Each and every one of them were named on the record credits.(as Otway explains - 'if you're named as a performer on a hit record - you don't just buy a copy for yourself - you buy one for your mum and auntie as well').

Encouraged by this glimpse of the big time - Otway once again snatches failure from the jaws of success by attempting to organise a World Tour (complete with its own jumbo jet to carry 300 of his lunatic fans around the globe with him) playing venues from Sydney to Singapore, and on through Vegas and Tahiti! Unfortunately - only half that number signed up and Otway lost the huge deposit he had put down for the hire of the plane.

The film moves to an amazing climax when (coinciding with Otway's sixtieth birthday) the fans once again show their adoration for 'their hero' in producing and funding the movie. The closing sequences of the film were shot minutes before the film's premiere and edited in whilst the audience watched the main body of the film - and then themselves arriving some 2 hours earlier.

The film is interspersed with a brilliant soundtrack of Otway flops (plus 2 hits) and various celebrities offering comment on the eponymous micro-star. The closing titles lists the hundreds of fans who contributed cash as co-producers.............The DVD seems destined to sell well then!