by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 04, 2008

"The Rutles" was a funny idea, but their 2002 reunion film proved the idea had gone on too long.

"The Rutles" idea started back in 1975, barely five years after the Beatles originally broke up, when interest in the band was still high. Eric Idle featured a short segment with a fake band resembling the Beatles in his British sketch comedy series, "Rutland Weekend Television." Even the first movie came about almost as an afterthought. In 1975, Lorne Michaels, the producer of "Saturday Night Live," had famously offered to pay the Beatles $3,000 if they'd reunite on his show. When Eric Idle later appeared on the show, he announced jokingly that he'd misunderstood the offer, and produced his musical footage of "The Rutles." Ultimately Michaels suggested that Idle should extend the idea still further, and a film producer from Saturday Night Live eventually stretched this premise into a 76-minute documentary.

"Can't Buy Me Lunch" was released 24 years later, but without a single new idea. The Beatles break-up was now 32 years in the past, so there was less wistful nostalgia for the producers to tap into. And their best jokes always relied on their surprising resemblance to the Beatles, like songs in which only a single word in the title was different. (For example, "I am the Walrus" became "I am the Waitress.") Unfortunately, the best jokes had already appeared in the first movie.

And the band had always formed only a part of the movie, with nearly half the screen time dedicated to a fake documentary about their life. In the original movie, these featured interviews with real rock stars supposedly remembering the life of "The Rutles," which was effective in making the band seem more real, but never particularly entertaining. "Can't Buy Me Lunch" only landed David Bowie, swapping in professional comedians like Conan O'Brien and Garry Shandling to fill out the rest of its interviews. Unfortunately, they weren't given very good material to work with.

There's some humor in the fact that the documentary maker finds himself in the wrong country while narrating details about the life of the band. But it's clear that some other jokes were only funny on paper, like the camera man who decides during one shot that he'd rather film a passing jogger.

The best thing about the Rutles has always been their music, which really does sound like the Beatles. (Albums have even been released, capturing the remarkable similarities and serving as fond tribute to everything the Beatles had accomplished.) "Doubleback Alley" is probably the most poignant, offering a bouncy tune about remembering the past which is obviously modeled on "Penny Lane," but which could also double as a remembrance of the Beatles themselves.

On this basis I would probably recommend the albums of Rutles music, and there's nothing wrong with the songs which appear in "Can't Buy Me Lunch." It's just not a very good movie.

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.