Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2010 Drama

Andy Serkis stars as volatile British New Wave icon Ian Dury in this biopic from BAFTA-nominated director Matt Whitecross (The Road to Guantanamo). As a young boy, Dury nearly died after being stricken with polio. Though the ravaging disease would leave him permanently disabled, however, it would also instill him with the drive and perseverance to become one of the most influential musicians of his generation. Along with his band Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the unpredictable rocker would become a key figure in the New Wave movement of the late 1970s. But through it all Dury's abrasive behavior never subsided, even during quiet moments with his delicate young son Baxter (Bill Milner). Ray Winstone, Naomie Harris, and Olivia Williams co-star.

Director: Mat Whitecross

Starring: Andy Serkis, Bill Milner, Ray Winstone, Naomie Harris, Tom Hughes

Reviews

  • It's an energetic and vivacious film that will appeal to fans of punk rock worldwide and should find its place in the pantheon of great music-film biographies.

    Ray Bennett - The Hollywood Reporter

    27 April 2013

  • A sometimes whimsical and magical take on the life of one of Britain's most artistically charged rock stars. Serkis shines in his role as the troubled singer.

    - Empire

    27 April 2013

  • Its flashes of style are sometimes lively but more often seem, like the slavish period décor, to be desperate attempts to overcome the built-in inertia of the genre.

    A.O. Scott - The New York Times

    27 April 2013

  • A new biopic of eccentric British rock legend Ian Dury, Andy Serkis uncoils a performance of spit, grit and wit so ferocious it only serves to starkly clarify how unremarkable and formulaic the rest of the movie is.

    Robert Abele - Los Angeles Times

    27 April 2013

  • Paul Viragh's script is too bitty to hold it all together, and filigrees of technique fail to disguise the weaknesses in helmer Mat Whitecross' first solo flight.

    - Variety

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Leading Actor

    BAFTA Awards (2010)

     
  • Best Actor

    British Independent Film Awards (2009)

     
  • Best Actor

    Evening Standard British Film Awards (2010)

  • British Actor of the Year

    London Critics Circle Film Awards (2010)

     
  • Best First Feature-Length Film Screenplay

    Writers' Guild of Great Britain (2010)