The Roku Channel, 2022
Starring Daniel Ratcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, and Toby Huss
Directed by Eric Appel
Music and Lyrics by Al Yankovitz and others
Let's get weird this week with a pair of musical biography spoofs. Our first entry began life as a satirical trailer for a fictional biography of Yankovitz, famous for his parodies of hit pop songs, released by online comedy video specialists Funny or Die in 2010. The real Weird Al liked the idea and started shopping around a spoof biography. The studios figured it would be more like a Zucker Brothers movie of the 80's and passed. It didn't finally find a home until January 2022, when it was announced for streaming company Roku's free channel. Inspired by the success of recent rock bios like Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, Al director Appel took a few little creative licenses with Al's life. Is this wacky look at one man's need to play the accordion as goofy as Al's songs, or should they be dropped in that nameless factory? Let's begin as Al (Ratcliffe) on a stretcher recalls his troubled childhood and find out...
The Story: Al loves satire, from radio personality Dr. Demento (Wilson) to MAD Magazine, but his father Nick (Huss) disapproves and wants him to join the factory where he works. Al truly believes spoofing pop songs is his destiny, especially after his mother Mary (Julienne Nicholson) buys him his first accordion from a traveling salesman (Thomas Lennon). His father destroys it after a wild polka party, leading for Al to get fed up and move out.
Living with three other guys, he comes up with "My Bologna" for "My Sharona" while making a bologna sandwich. Tony Scotti ("Weird" Al Yankovic) will only sign him to a contract if he has more experience. He and his buddies form a band and play in a biker bar. They catch the eye of Dr. Demento himself, who agrees to be his manager and promoter. He brings them to a party, where they meet some of the most beloved celebrities of the early 80's...and DJ Wolfman Jack (Jack Black), who challenges Al to come up with a spoof of "Another One Bites the Dust." Al thinks up "Another One Rides the Bus" on the spot.
Now Al's world-famous, but it's not enough. His parents still reject him. He wants to write his own music, coming up with "Eat It." It attracts the attention of pop queen Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), who begins a relationship with him in order to bump up the popularity of her songs. He's furious when Michael Jackson comes out with the identical "Beat It" as a parody, and everyone assumes Jackson's version comes out first. He thinks Madonna is all he has, but she has other ideas. After he returns home, he joins the factory...only to learn his parents understood his ambitions better than he believed.
The Song and Dance: Just as strange and hilarious as Al's songs often are. Radcliffe is just adorable as Al, whose wide-eyed, energetic naivety contrasts delightfully with the more over-the-top personalities around him. For a last minute replacement, Wilson's also having a good time as his mentor and father-figure in lunacy Dr. Demento. Look for funny cameos by Jack Black as Demento's rival Wolfman Jack and Lin-Manuel Miranda as the doctor at the ER where Al and Madonna come up with "Like a Surgeon."
Favorite Number: Teen Al (Corey Pestauro) impresses all the kids at that wild polka party with "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Helena Polka." "My Bologna," played in a men's bathroom when Al's friends suggest he get a recording out right away. "I Love Rocky Road" galvanizes the crowd at the biker bar and convinces Dr. Demento that this crazy kid should get a chance. He comes up with "Another One Rides the Bus" on the spot to take on that challenge at Demento's party.
"Eat It" is the result of an amazingly surreal LSD computer animation sequence. It's certainly one of the most colorful pieces of imagery I've seen in a while. "Like a Surgeon" is the result of his partnership with Madonna, and it's a riot onstage, with Al in full surgeon costume. The film ends with Al's computer-backdrop "Amish Paradise." Never mind this one is a satire of a rap song from the mid-90's, and the movie is set in 1985. It's funny enough to finish things off with bright-colored bang.
Trivia: Amazingly enough, some incidents in the film are based on real-life. Al did buy his first accordion from a traveling salesman. He recorded "My Bologna" in a men's bathroom. Madonna did want him to parody one of her songs, and she came up with the idea for "Like a Surgeon." "The Weird Al Effect," in which the songs he's parodying often get a bump in popularity, is also real.
And while Al wasn't asked to replace Roger Moore as James Bond, he did perform the title song for the 1996 action spoof Spy Hard.
What I Don't Like: Like the movies it's making fun of, it's overlong. The sequence with Al rescuing Madonna from the drug lord seems to have been dropped in from an early 80's action film and has almost nothing to do with the rest of the movie. It probably could have been trimmed with none the wiser. Not to mention, there's that oddly dark ending that doesn't really jive with the rest of the movie. (Or what it's making fun of - Rocketman, at least, ends happily.) Also, this obviously isn't for you if you're not into movie spoofs or Weird Al. Having seen the movies it's making fun of is helpful as well.
The Big Finale: If you love movie satire or Weird Al, this is one trip into the mind of a truly unique performer that's well worth taking.
Home Media: Currently a Roku Channel exclusive, but like most of their content, it's free with commercials.
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