Starring John C. Reilly, Kristen Wiig, Jenna Fischer, and Raymond J. Barry
Directed by Jake Kasdan
Music and Lyrics by various
Weird Al is far from the first guy to parody the musical biography genre. Walk Hard debuted amid a string of hit rock and country bios, including Ray and Walk the Line. Writer Judd Apatow also came off a string of smash comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin featuring goofy man-children making their way through gross-out gags. Some of that figures into Walk Hard as well, but it mostly spoofs the cliches inherent in musical biopics as far back as the 1930's. How does the life story of fictional rocker Dewey Cox look today? Let's begin with two boys in 50's Alabama and their dreams and find out...
The Story: Dewey Cox was almost literally born to lose. He accidentally cut his brother Nate (Chip Horness) in half with a machete as a child in the 1930's, which is father (Barry) never forgave him for. He takes up guitar and learns to play the blues, then enters in a local talent contest. His simple song about holding hands causes his whole town to go crazy. His father turns him away, but his girlfriend Edith (Kristen Wiig) wants to marry him, despite him being 14 and her being 12.
They constantly have babies, but Edith claims he'll never make it as musician. She's right at first, until he replaces a singer in an African-American bar. Jewish record executive L'Chaim (Harold Ramis) manages to get out his first song, "Walk Hard." It's a smash hit that takes Dewey further and further from home, and more and more into the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll lifestyle. He ends up marrying singer Daphne Madison (Fischer) while still married to Edith. They divorce him, though Daphne eventually comes back. Not helping here is his father blaming him for his mother's (Margo Martindale) death when she falls out a window while dancing to his music.
Dewey gets heavily into the 60's counterculture scene, writing incomprehensible lyrics about his demons and partying with the Beatles and other popular groups of the time. Daphne and his band have had enough of his lunacy and leave him. By the 70's, he's starring in a cheesy variety show, but unable to write songs. He attempts to reconcile with his father, and though it goes badly, it does inspire him to spend more time with his own many, many children and get back with Daphne. It's not until a rapper samples his music in 2006 that his music is heard by a new generation, and he finds the inspiration to write one last magnum opus for his lost brother.
The Song and Dance: This one is about Reilly, the great music, and the creative gags. Reilly totally nails the role of the naive hillbilly whose music is a reflection of who he is, and who just wants his father to forgive him. He threw himself so hard into the film, he actually did a tour performing Dewey's songs. Fischer's also having fun as his second wife who is his equal in temperament and gullibility. Everything works with the gags, from the intentionally bad celebrity casting to the bright and over-the-top sets and costumes that recreate each time period in question. Great aging makeup on Reilly, Fischer, and his bandmates in the 90's and 2000's sequences, too. There's even a brief and nicely-done Yellow Submarine-esque animated sequence during Dewey's LSD trip.
I'm surprised at how good the music is. The songwriters really did their homework. Everything from the title song to the weirdly psychedelic "Royal Jelly" sounds like they were written in the mid-20th century. Even the rap number "You Make Me So Hard" could pass for a real single from 2006, with its oddly gritty lyrics and constant use of older music.
Favorite Number: Our first real number is the ballad Dewey performed at the talent show that caused all the commotion, "Take My Hand." It's about as innocuous of a squeaky-clean 50's ballad as you can get, but it still sends the town into a frenzy and makes a priest condemn it as the Devil's work. L'Chaim questions Dewey singing "(Mama) You Got to Love Your Negro Man" at the African-American bar, but it goes over with the crowd anyway. He starts off singing the completely inappropriate "That's Amore" for L'Chaim's fellow executives, but they don't really accept him until he busts out with a hard-driving "Walk Hard."
"Let's Duet" brings in Daphne (dubbed by Angela Correa), becoming spicier and more suggestive the further their relationship goes. "A Life Without You (Is No Life at All)" and "Darling" are Dewey's drug-fueled attempts to figure out what went wrong with his love life after the ladies walk out. "Guilty as Charged" is from his period in jail, as he admits he did some really dumb stuff. "Black Sheep" is his attempt at an artsy magnum opus. It's really an incomprehensible mush of lyrics and jangly melodies. "Royal Jelly" is even weirder, thanks to his drug trips. "Let Me Hold You (Little Man)" tries to get weepy, but comes off as more silly.
He's reduced to singing David Bowie's "Starman" in an astronaut suit during his 1976 variety show. The hilariously gritty rap song "You Make Me So Hard" samples "Walk Hard" and brings Dewey back into focus. An eclectic all-star trio - Jewel, Lyle Lovett, Ghostface Killah, and Jackson Browne - encore "Walk Hard" during the awards show. Dewey's finally able to sum up his crazy life - and make a song his brother would be proud of - with the finale "Beautiful Ride."
What I Don't Like: If you know anything about Apatow's other films, that should give you an idea of what the jokes are like here. Lots of sex and body part gags, nudity, swearing, and violence with how Dewey's father and brother died. Obviously, heed the R rating. It also helps to have seen other recent rock biographies, including ones made later that follow the cliches. Some people will get what Apatow's going for here; others will wonder why this goofy idiot is throwing sinks around.
The Big Finale: With a fresh wave of biopics out, now is a great time to revisit the hilariously tragic life of the greatest rock and roll legend who never lived. It's basically the Elvis movie from last summer played for comedy, and it's as wild as Dewey's musical legacy.
Home Media: This review is based after the extended two-hour version, though the original theatrical 90-minute version is also readily available.
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