Review of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Could have been better...

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Edith: "What about my dreams?"
Dewey Cox: "Edith I told you I can't build your candy house! It will fall apart, the sun will melt the candy, it won't work!"

As a Judd Apatow feature, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a slight disappointment with mild laughs. On the other hand, as a contemporary movie spoof of a genre then Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story surpasses expectations. No matter which category you slide this film into, you will never regard it as a modern masterpiece. This film is fundamentally a parody of recent music biopics. Quintessentially, the film's structure is profoundly influenced by the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line with additional parodying of biopics such as Ray. You recognise that you're in for an exceedingly enjoyable time during the film's opening sequence that is palpably a parody of Walk the Line. Soon enough the film is blemished with various tracks of fantastic music.

Walk Hard is a film concerning an iconic musician named Dewey Cox (Reilly) whose songs shape the music industry during the 20th century. As a child he accidentally slices his gifted brother (Hormess) in half with a machete. Dewey instigates his significant fascination in becoming a singer at the age of 14, much to the pungent opposition of his father (Barry). But he doesn't let this get in his way when at the age of 15 he's already married, has children, and becomes an idol among young ladies. Determined to establish himself as an even bigger star in the music industry, he begins his steady rise to fame before his legacy is threatened. As Dewey's love for music spirals out of control, he neglects the people that love him.

The regular formula is employed here for best effect. It seems the formula is coincidentally identical for every musician: at first they suffer through a childhood tragedy, then they're young and naïve with ambitions to reach stardom, then they create a massive hit and soon skyrocket to stardom. Then the drug addictions kick in (as well as the womanising...Dewey sleeps with 411 girls and marries three times), then comes prison and rehab followed by a long period of desolation. Cue the triumphant comeback close to the film's conclusion and the musician dies at the end. In a sense, Walk Hard cleverly satirises the formula by copying it. Every music biopic from The Doors to Walk the Line loyally follow this formula as the story of the protagonist in question enjoys a formulaic career. The filmmakers deserve kudos for this cleverly subtle touch that is extremely funny.

John C. Reilly rises above the common genre standard. Reilly sings all of his own songs and produces his own music. That feat itself deserves tremendous recognition. He sounds like Johnny Cash (because he's meant to, of course) when he sings the title song. It's interesting to note that when the character is in his 30s, he doesn't look any different to when he was 14. It’s only when Dewey reaches old age that his appearance begins to change. That's another brilliant subtle laugh. It's difficult to describe the supporting cast as characters disappear and reappear. Aside from Reilly, there aren't many significant characters to note. I will mention Jenna Fischer as the character of Darlene who becomes one of the main women in Dewey's life. Fischer's character is ostensibly representing the character of June Carter from Walk the Line that was played by Reese Witherspoon. They share a similar story with their respective protagonist. Raymond J. Barry is also very amusing as Dewey Cox's father, whose looks alone represent Robert Patrick's character from Walk the Line.

Overall, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a reasonably disappointing spoof of the music biopic genre. When it comes to Judd Apatow I expected better results. There are a number of shrewd quality laughs, but most of these laughs are drawn from full frontal nudity (including a very detailed close-up of a man's penis), swearing, dumb characters and even potty jokes. In this day and age, this form of humour grows old. By all means, this film is far superior to rubbish such as Epic Movie and other brainless spoofs in that vein. After hearing a number of glowing positives regarding this film, I found it very disappointing.

6/10

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Added by PvtCaboose91 1 month ago on 2 July 2008 06:07