Review of Stella Street

Introduction

Running now to three series this is the everyday story of stars that have moved to the suburbs to enjoy a quiet life away from the pressures of fame. The Beatles were the first to enjoy a brief respite from being chased by young girls. Stopping with Stella Street stalwart Mrs Huggett, the boys quickly saw the advantage of relative anonymity. However it was Michael Caine who bought the first house and got all his showbiz buddies to join him in the street.

These days Al Pacino lives next door to Jack Nicholson. Across the road Jimmy Hill lives a strange singular existence and Michael Caine looks after street char lady Mrs Huggett. Meanwhile Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have taken over the corner shop. Other non famous characters include Len the psychopathic pyromaniac and Dean Barraclough, a supremely incompetent builder.

Stella Street started as a series of 10 Minute blink and you miss `em shows on BBC2. Filmed in documentary style it was an interesting twist on the rich and famous and how they would be in an ordinary street .Playing up the perceived notions about these stars means we end up with an extremely foul mouthed Joe Pesci, essentially an enhanced version of his character in `Goodfellas`. Jack Nicholson is Jack the Lad. Michael Caine is firmly in `Italian Job` mockney.

All the characters, and there are many, are played by John Sessions and Phil Cornwell. Joining them especially for the film they have Ronni Ancona, well known for here appearances as Posh Spice and others in Alistair McGowan`s shows. She does a brief reprise of Posh here.

It must have been a punishing schedule with the three leads playing everybody apart from the occasional extra who were mostly the crew and family.

Video

Made for television and recently shown. It`s a good clear picture with no transfer problems.

Audio

Stella Street has a catchy theme tune sung in the style of the swinging 50`s. Add in some pastiches of Bowie and Jagger`s style and that about finishes it.

The less said about the script the better. Think 10 minute show spread over 80 minutes and there is the problem. The plot is `villainy` meets the filthy rich and takes it away from them. Of course the plot is not important when we are so busy `impressing` you with our impressions.

Features

Good clear menus and a lot of extra bits.

The extras are made up of several spoof documentaries that are mercifully short. There is also a commentary by Cornwell and Sessions.

The Making of Stella Street
A mock documentary about the making of…
`Lost Movie Classics`


Another mock documentary…can you see a theme here? Michael Caine discusses one of his lesser known films with Ian Johnstone. So that`s where he went.

`Michael Caine`s Soho`

Michael tours his old haunts in Soho in the back of a cab.

`Jimmy Up West`

Jimmy Hill takes his football out.

`Len and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance`

Len the resident psychopath shares his `thoughts` with the viewer.
Overall rather a dull selection. Perhaps they could have included some early episodes for comparison or perhaps not.

Mick and Keith`s Corner Store

A video of the song from the film. Unfortunately John Sessions does not do the emaciated Keith Richards look very well and he was `playing` a normal guitar. How many times can I repeat it`s not funny?

Trailers

Stella Street-presumably because these are a job lot.
Still Crazy
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
And Now For Something Completely Different
Jabberwocky

Spot which two are comedies.
Commentary

John Sessions and Phil Cornwell enjoy a few laughs at the licence payers expense. At least they enjoyed it.

Conclusion

Ever met a boring git in the pub who is convinced he is the funniest bloke alive this DVD is the equivalent of that. Apparently this cost a million quid to make. Next time lads leave it in the building society.

I never took to this on the television and rarely gave it the time of day. This film is pretty poor and the series should have been left alone to stand or fall. It`s not the first time that making a movie was a mistake. I wanted to stand and shout at the TV screen "It`s not funny please stop." Essentially a one joke series of 10 Minute episodes has become a one joke film. There are one or two funny scenes one of which involves farmyard animals and that almost made up for having to sit through the rest of it. It

I hope it pleases the fans because I cannot believe it will gain them any new ones. Having said all that I still liked it when `Michael Caine` said- "I told you to only blow the bloody doors off!" I may have to go and watch `The Italian Job`.

I`m sick and I need help.