When viewed as
a straightforward spoof of the musical-biopic genre, Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story comes across as a flat, uninspired
spin-off of the Scary Movie series. When viewed as
comedic-genius Judd Apatow’s writing follow-up to this summer’s
Knocked Up, the movie can’t help but seem like a complete
and utter failure. Walk Hard’s wonderful high-concept is
the only thing funny about it; the plot and jokes are as
by-the-numbers and predictable as one could possibly imagine.
Apatow and co-writer/director Jake Kasdan (who also helmed the
brilliant Jack Black-vehicle Orange County) seem to have
hit an embarrassing dry spot in their respective resumes with
this film, leaving the unimpressed viewer praying that it only
represents a small hiccup in their otherwise-thriving careers
and not the sign of a beginning trend.
John C. Reilly
plays title figure Dewey Cox, a rock-‘n-roll front-man desperate
to become a legend. From a very young age, Dewey was neglected
by his parents, who invested all of their attention in his
musical-genius of a brother. Unfortunately, Dewey killed this
brother by accidentally cutting him in half in a machete-fight.
Disowned by his father because of this, he decided that he would
try to live up to the Cox name for his late brother’s sake. In
order to do so, Dewey became a musician himself after realizing
that he could play the guitar in a chance-encounter with some
Blues musicians at the local general store. Walk Hard
chronicles Dewey’s rise to fame, as well as his subsequent
personal marital-troubles and drug-problems.
As funny as
Walk Hard may sound on paper, its number of actual
laugh-out-loud moments is close to none. Apatow and Kasdan
usually take the film exactly where one would expect them to,
using the inspired plot as a gimmick, not the ripe source of
comedy that it could have been. Part of the problem is their
heavy reliance on spoofing Walk the Line, a
musical-biopic that miraculously skirted around the very
conventions of the genre that Walk Hard mocks. Because
that film was so beautifully-conceived, this one’s attempts to
poke fun at it seem undeserving and lacking a satiric edge.
Apatow and Kasdan’s approach is eerily reminiscent of the
writers of the aforementioned Scary Movie films; they
aimlessly lampoon any thinkable element of Walk the Line
and other musical biopics just because they can, not because
doing so makes for smart comedy. And when they’re out of targets
for humor in that department, the pair relies on
poo-poo-ga-ga-esque jokes that are even more insufferable to
fill the void. (It should be noted, however, that they are
responsible for one hilarious sequence that would’ve been right
at home had it appeared in Todd Haynes’ recent I’m Not There,
in which Dewey imitates Bob Dylan.)
If there’s one
reason to see Walk Hard, it’s Reilly’s bombastic
performance as Dewey. The actor’s work contains the very
sharpness and wittiness that is missing from the screenplay. He
makes Dewey feel like a real star, not just a caricature
designed for the sole purpose of playfully mocking Joaquin
Phoenix’s Johnny Cash or Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles. As a result,
the humor that Reilly creates on his own feels far more
authentic and biting than anything that Apatow and Kasdan offer
up. He pokes fun at Hollywood by embodying it in Dewey
Cox, not merely exploiting a brilliant concept for the film’s
ninety-six minutes. In fact, Apatow recently stated in a
promotional interview that Reilly was cast in the role because
of the fact that he could also get away with playing a serious
version of Dewey in a “real” production of the sort. For exactly
this reason, the selection was perfect. How unfortunate that the
other creative choices made by those involved in the making of
Walk Hard were nowhere near as creative or as innovative.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 12.23.2007
Screened on:
12.21.2007 at the Krikorian Vista Village Metroplex 15 in Vista,
CA.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is rated
R and runs 96 minutes.
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