The source is Laurence Sterne’s 18th century book “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman,” a work extending to nine volumes between 1759 and 1767, which is impossibly difficult to film. Sterne takes more than 250 pages before the hero is born. The author digresses into philosophical discussions and all sorts of information and ruminations. Scholars have considered the work a forerunner to the style of James Joyce.

What can you do with a book like this? Ever resourceful Winterbottom decided to make a film about trying to film the book. The resulting travesty chronicles the complicated efforts, off-camera drama, jealousies between actors and assorted colorful escapades during the shoot.

The star is the very funny Steve Coogan, who plays the actor playing Tristram as well as Tristram in the movie. Other key performances are contributed by Rob Brydon and Gillian Armstrong. The movie is consistently witty and an inventive take on the process of adaptation as well as filmmaking itself. It abounds in amusing references, including the use of Nino Rota music from Fellini’s “8 ½” and “Amacord.”

The humor is ribald, often hilarious but at other times subtle. There are some incredibly funny visuals, including the attempt to film Tristram in the inside of a vagina waiting to be born. Some cutting would help give the movie a less rambling structure, but the informality and easy-going tempo is part of the overall style.