Flipping back and forth between the 18th Century and the hapless efforts of the 21st Century filmakers, "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" is the making of a movie adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Sahndy, Gentlemen," written by Laurence Sterne.

The story begins with Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan) narrating his life story as he sees it. Crammed with literary jokes and dark humor, Shandy's warped childhood tales are constantly interrupted by his family and household, inadvertently revealing far more about himself than any conventional autobiography.

At the dramatic moment of Tristram's birth, the 1st Assistant Director calls cut, marking the end of a filming day on the set of Tristram Shandy. We then see Steve Coogan, the other actors and crew through the course of a chaotic evening on set. Steve Coogan's wife arrives with their six month old baby, a journalist is chasing him about a scandalous story, his agent has arrived with a load of Hollywood scripts and the film financiers are threatening to pull the plug.

A clever, post-modern take on the construction of a film, from an intricate hilariously complex autobiographical novel.