Just what it says on the tin

Andy Serkis as Ian Dury

A FEW weeks after its British opening, Mat Whitecross's unruly biopic of Ian Dury – the William Hogarth of post-punk – finally arrives in Irish cinemas. The wait has been worth it. The funny, stirring Sex & Drugs & Rock & Rollbegins with titles by Peter Blake, who taught Dury at the Royal College of Art, and the project does suggest one of the pop artist's famous collages.

Interspersed with performances in an echoing space, the film arranges incidents from the great man’s life in only vaguely chronological order. We see the child being mistreated in a special school following a diagnosis of polio. We watch him irresponsibly firing every drummer who passes his way. We squirm as he neglects his wife (Olivia Williams), bellows at his new girlfriend (Naomie Harris) and allows his son (Bill Milner) to bunk off school.

It was going to take some performance to convince us that such a socially abrasive character was even vaguely likable. Thankfully, Andy Serkis, recipient of a deserved Bafta nomination for this turn, is on hand to layer the offensiveness with thick wads of rude London charm.

At times the actor is a little too theatrical (even for such a huge character as Dury), and the script does stick very closely to standard rock biopic templates (Harris actually gets to say the dread words: “I don’t know who you are anymore.“). But Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll is so drenched in effective period detail, and so infused with Dury’s earthy energy, that it ultimately proves impossible to resist. A genuine reason to be cheerful.