A Cock and Bull Story

The film is a comedy that features Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves as egotistical actors during the making of a screen adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 18th-century novel Tristram Shandy. The film-within-a-film takes the form of being about failing to make the film, incorporating several sequences from the novel, including scenes of Tristram's conception, birth, and christening, and Uncle Toby's wooing of Widow Wadman. The film also features Gillian Anderson and Keeley Hawes playing themselves in addition to their Tristram Shandy roles, and explores the challenges of bringing a complex and humorous book to the screen.