The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003)

Sequels are a dangerous game. Not all 2nd parts work better. There are some great exceptions - Terminator 2 or Aliens. Or Asterix and Obelix And Cleopatra Mission. Here is a very weird sequel to All You Need Is Cash of 1978. Well, this is not a sequel proper. This is not a remake or rework. A rip-off? A repetition, more precisely. Eric Idle is older, and he repeats himself. All the same predictable Monty Python gags and skits are here galore. Do they work? I'd vote, nope. They became stake, vapid and tasteless. Untasty. Taste less. That is so. There is No new dimension to the Rutles story line. Old footage, deleted scenes and additional moments are added, yes. Several famous people are added. Several songs are added. Yet, it does not convince. It leaves me stunned to some extent. And sad. Such a great film, as an original was, got such a stale sequel. Not necessary at all, and not that funny.

Very disappointing. My time would've been better spent watching the first movie and some clips of Rutles cover bands on the Internet.I'm a big Rutles fan. The original movie was great. If you didn't see it, a lot of it is in this pathetic excuse of a movie.It starts out alright but the viewer quickly realizes there's little new here. The SNL influence is felt when you hear the Nth joke about their trousers; repetition does *not* equal funny, gang. At the end of the film, they show some outtakes of actors laughing. One of my boys wondered what movie they were watching.Some of the interviews were slightly funny, but wouldn't be again if someone held a gun to my head and made me watch this a second time. At least it's short.

Most outings from Python alumni are good for at least one good, hard belly laugh. Unfortunately, that is most definitely NOT the case with "Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch". I'm not kidding. Not ONCE did I laugh. If I'd actually been able to find & purchase this sold-out-at-all-stores-I-went-to travesty instead of borrowing it from a friend, I honestly would've taken it back for a refund or an exchange for something good.Creator Eric Idle had carped about WB leaving this sequel to languish in the vaults "until I should pass away". Trust me, they should have. It's the one time I think "studio wisdom" actually should've been applied. And what REALLY steams me is that I was one of the most vocal lobbyists to get WB to finally release it on DVD. I was mildly worried when one of the two previews on the DVD's official website featured former SNLer Jimmy Fallon.It was nothing compared to the disappointment that was to follow.Instead of treating rabid fans of "The Prefab Four" to new footage of those wacky Liverpudlians & what anarchic mischief they've been up to since The Rutles' demise in 1970, we are fed unused footage from the 1978 -- & highly superior -- "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash", & even most of that was seen in the special features of that DVD. NO new appearances from Neil Innes (Ron Nasty), John Halsey (Barry Wom), or Rikki Fataar (Stig O'Hara) were presented to go along with this inferior rehash of a brilliant mockumentary, which obviously inspired the likes of "This Is Spinal Tap", "Bad News", & "Dill Scallion", all funny & all definitely owing a debt of gratitude to Idle's vision.Shortly after "The Beatles Anthology" was released, Neil Innes & Co. returned to the studio to record "The Rutles Archaeology". Innes contacted Idle to invite him to reprise his role as Dirk McQuickly for the video of "Shangri-La", but Idle turned him down, saying that it'd been done before & he had no time to retread old ground. He should either have stuck to that statement or taken Innes up on the offer. The second Rutles' album was MUCH truer to the original (in some instances, even funnier!) than Idle's movie. Had Idle reprised his role, maybe he would've remembered what made it so funny to begin with.The new interviews (featuring the likes of Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Salman Rushdie[?!]) again feature nothing new or humorous. And the whole "trousers" thing? It was (is) funny for the brief mentions in the original, but it feels like it's being beaten to death in the sequel.I wish I'd been that fortunate, either before or after sitting through this. Having survived "Rutles 2", I'll never complain about having to go to the dentist's office again.

I'm a huge Rutles fan and I'd never even heard of this until ten minutes ago. Considering how little information is available about it online (aside from the usual synopses and cast lists), it looks like very few others had seen it either. It's curious to note that apparently the official press release lists Eric Idle as one of the founding members of the Bonzo Dog Band -- I hope everyone knows that's not correct. I also see that the DVD comes with an "Never-before-seen alternate ending" -- interesting, considering how few people have seen the regular ending. Now, to stretch this thing out to the requisite ten lines, here are some vegetables that I like: Oops. Out of space. Maybe next time.