Search - The Rutles 2 - Can't Buy Me Lunch on DVD

Stop Eric Idle Before he Kills Again!

tashcrash | South Shore, MA | 03/05/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is an uninspired, strained, and literal rehash of the original RUTLES film, devoid of any of the original's wit. While Neil Innes actually improved on the soundtrack to the original with the "Anthology" take-off "Archeology," Eric Idle seems (un)comfortable ripping himself off in the most hackneyed and superficial way. Overall, the normally clever Idle has greatly tarnished the simple charm of one of his finest achievements. It's obvious why Warner Bros. didn't know what to do with it, and as for the celebrity interviews, most are poorly improvised, woefully unfunny and drag on way too long."

A big disappointment.

Josh Mandel | Albany, NY United States | 03/05/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I was a huge Rutles fan, and was greatly anticipating this release. Unfortunately, it consists mostly of clips of the Rutles from the first special (although there are occasional flashes of footage apparently unused from the first special) interspersed with new interviews (Steve Martin, James Taylor, Conan O'Brien, Carrie Fisher, and others). Eric Idle even rips himself off; the show opens with a sight gag -- Idle trying to keep up with an accelerating camera as he narrates -- taken directly from the original program. It all has a cobbled-together feel and offers nothing of substance new for Rutles fans."

Why? I'll tell ya why...

Kathy L. Holmes | 05/18/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It is a sad, sad, tale that I have to tell you, but I'll keep it short.

Back when the Rutles were first conceived, Neil Innes (seen in 'Grail' as the Minstrel) and Eric Idle worked amicably together, creating a sharp and hilarious parody of the Beatles legend. Idle wrote the script, and Innes created the music. The original 'All You Need Is Cash' special placed 65th out of 65 shows the week it was originally shown in 1978, but the fame of the Rutles grew over the years just the same.

Eric Idle did not write, sing or perform any Rutles music, ever. However, Idle, as the 'face' that was most identifiable to Americans (as the narrator and lip-synching Dirk McQuickly), enjoyed whatever credit there was to be had for the Rutles. He enjoyed this for years, until the Rutles album was re-released in the 90s, when the true genius of the team was revealed to all (us hardcore fans already knew) as Neil Innes.

When the 'Archaeology' project was conceived (to much excitement among the former Rutle musicians and producers, even George Harrison), it went through a huge bidding war, with Virgin finally winning and putting its considerable muscle behind the production and marketing of the album. That is, until the month before the album came out. Idle then brought to bear all sorts of legal demands (monetary and otherwise) that pretty much killed the album, as Virgin was now loathe to put lots of money into the promotion of the project. Idle demanded every image of himself be deleted from the package, as well as half the album profits and the odd note on the album cover that 'The Rutles' was the SOLE creation of Idle.

Because of all this, the album was pretty much 'stillborn' at release, and Innes was sent into bankruptcy.

Innes and Idle have NOTHING now but animosity between them.

If you want to read the entire sad tale, see the Internet Archive and do a search on the Rutles.

After all the negative reviews and wondering about why the 'Shangri-La' video or anything of real consequence is contained in this product, I just thought I'd let you know."

Huge disappointment...

DrJ | 03/10/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is my first Amazon review because I feel so compelled to add my voice of disappointment, here. It's that bad...

I'm a longtime Beatles, Rutles, Monty Python, and SNL fan. "Rutles 2 - Can't Buy Me Lunch" only needed to be mildly amusing, and I would have been easily satisified...

But this video is a mess.

For all of the supposedly *unused* footage from the first Rutles movie, there seems to be just as much *recycled* footage from the first Rutles movie. Moreover, the unused footage from the first Rutles movie is so similar to footage that *did* appear in the first movie, that it takes effort to even recognize this "unused" footage as as new!

The attempts to lipsynch footage from the first Rutles film with songs recorded in the 1990s for the Rutles "Archaelogy" album was painful to watch. The first Rutles moview was too brilliant to be misused in this way...

The quality of the camera work even seems "low budget": the first Rutles movie had a filmic (artistic!) look to the work. The new footage in this second film sometimes looks like it was done with a consumer-level camcorder. When this new footage is juxtaposed to the old in the film, it feels like an amateurish "hack job" that screams "straight to video"...

There are so many shameless attempts to recycle gags from the first film that it's almost insulting: did they think we wouldn't notice, or something...?

The running gag with the elsewhere with the otherwise talented Jimmy Fallon is so puerile and sloppy that it's exasperating. (Did they even BLOCK the scenes?) It doesn't work the FIRST time, let alone the second, and third, and...

There are some occasionally interesting moments in the interviews with such guest stars as David Bowie, Tom Hanks, et al. But the interviews go on way too long, as if they're just letting the camera run, hoping for funny moments to happen. And you get the sense that these interviews done solely as favors to Lorne Michaels and/or Eric Idle -- not because they were enthusiastic about this sequel -- and this shows in the low energy of their interviews. The "outakes" in the Bonus Features section of the DVD make these stars half-hearted interest in the project all too apparent...

Yes, the music in Rutles 2 is worth hearing. But the best of it was included on the first Rutles audio CD. The rest of it is all on the Rutles' "Archaeology" CD. Buy that CD instead: the "Archaeology" music by itself is weak by comparison to the first Rutles CD, but it is still genuinely listenable music that does produce the occasional smile or laugh.

But smiles and laughs on "Can't Buy Me Lunch" DVD are just too few and fare between.

Rent it just to satisfy your curiosity, if you must. But you won't ever want to watch it again, I dare say..."