Last Saturday, a local film festival held the world premiere of Eric Idle's The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch. The infamous Monkeyspit gives us a brief I-was-there account.
When I saw the film two years ago, it was close to 75 minutes. The current cut is around 55, which is the preferred length for a possible BBC telecast. What I viewed was very funny with a few weak spots which I presume are now relegated to what filmmakers used to call "the cutting room floor." Now the preferred term is, "We'll include it on the DVD." Either way, I can't imagine the 55-minute version not being a joy.
But most of us will have to imagine or not for a while longer. Apparently, the lovely folks at Warner Brothers still have no plans to release Mr. Idle's film anywhere at any time. Petitions like this one are springing up to convince them that there's a market out here for this funny film. (I don't think online petitions do a huge amount of good. On the other hand, they don't do any harm, either, nor do they require great effort to sign. There's always the chance that if the folks making the decision are really and truly on the fence, something like this could nudge things over to the proper side. Nudge, nudge.)
In the meantime, the illustrious Idle is about to kick off another tour, singing his silly songs all across this great land of ours. This one is called The Greedy Ba$tard Tour and when I hear about a schedule being posted, I'll let you know. I saw him in his last go-round and had a very good time, even during the live, on-stage liver transplant.