Review: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Biopic of punk rocker and polio sufferer Ian Dury (played as an adult by Andy Serkis), forced by his tough love dad (Ray Winstone) to stand on his own two feet, and harassed as a child at school by a strict disciplinarian (Toby Jones). We see how this seriously harsh upbringing has made him into the adult seen in the bulk of the film, living a life of excess, switching between his wife (Olivia Williams), and a young lover (Naomie Harris), and also dealing with his relationship with his own impressionable son (Bill Milner), who is exposed to some of the less savoury elements of Dury’s world. He’s also still cursed with the effects of polio, as he only has one working leg. Meanwhile, his career goes through many highs and lows (the lows often being due to his own self-destructive nature, and drug use), as he sees himself passed by in favour of the punk acts who thrived on the foundation set by the likes of Dury, while he himself faded somewhat.

 

Directed by Mat Whitecross (co-director of “The Road to Guantanamo”) and written by Paul Viragh (a novice), this biopic of influential punk rocker Ian Dury is repetitive, somewhat predictable, clichéd, and at times two-dimensional. Amazingly it still works, mostly due to the terrific performance by Andy Serkis in the lead. Serkis, who looks and sounds enough like the real Dury (though his singing voice is lesser, even given Dury’s own singing limitations), helps make one forget that Dury’s story really isn’t all that much different from most other music biopics, and the events in this film often become repetitive. How many times did we need to see Dury ping-pong between his estranged wife (played well by Olivia Williams) and his young mistress (Naomie Harris)? It got to be a bit tiresome after a while. Then again, as much as I rather like Dury’s ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ (the only song of his I knew beforehand), all his songs sound like lesser versions of that one hit song.

I also felt the film wasn’t as complete as a biopic as it could’ve been. It felt a bit disjointed, particularly in regards to his career. We get his late-in-the-game comeback, as well as some of his highs and lows, but the film skips from his troubled childhood to his prime (and afterwards), without giving us any idea what the early days of his music career were like. That’s a pretty important chunk of story, surely, because as is, I had little sense of how or why Dury became such an important (if later somewhat forgotten) figure in the punk movement. As much as I enjoyed some of the scenes dealing with Dury’s own parenting style compared and contrasted with his well-meaning but ‘tough love’ dad (played well by Ray Winstone), I felt like a little went a long way.

Take some of the parental stuff out, take some of the romantic merry-go-round out, and throw in some of the early days of Ian Dury and I think the film (entertaining as it is) would’ve been even better. As is, it’s highly watchable, but perhaps best left to die-hard Dury fans who don’t need to be spoon-fed as much. It’s interestingly stylised and hyper at times, giving off a little “Clockwork Orange” vibe in my opinion.

Andy Serkis definitely deserves praise here, especially in finding sympathy for a somewhat unpleasant man. See it for his amazing performance, an underrated actor.

 

Rating: B-