Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Dewey Cox is a man whose life started hard, but the music carried him through. Walk Hard, if you couldn’t tell by the preview, is a parody of music biopics. These films, especially of late, have had a certain strange formula (despite the disparity of their subjects) that was indeed ripe for gentle mockery. Honestly, how strangely similar were Walk The Line and Ray? But Walk Hard is not making a mockery of the music or the musicians. It only playfully takes the teases the filmmakers and the conventions that have developed in telling these tortured artists’ stories. These biopic directors are trying to make a myth out of a man; instead they reduce him to a formulaic punchline.
Had the great Christopher Guest made this movie, it would have been a grimly funny character study, accurate in tone, but likely not as silly and hilarious as this one. Director Jake Kasdan (The Zero Effect, The TV Set) wrote the script with reigning überkind Judd Apatow, with every wink and telegraphed plot point in place. The result is not what could have been a self-satisfied mug fest “aren’t we clever” - instead it is a fun, “hey guys, let’s put on a show” romp starring seemingly everyone in the current comedy universe, from Craig Robinson to Harold Ramis and just about everyone inbetween. It’s only Matinee price because it is occasionally a little sketch comedy “see where this is going, tee hee” but it’s a fun ride. You’ll have to see it twice just to process the cameos.
Walk Hard makes fun of the formula, makes fun of the self-importance of these biopics, makes fun of the black and white portrayals of the supporting characters, and even the cultural naivete of the eras Cox lives through. One thing it does not do, however, is make fun of the actual music. The songs in Walk Hard are great. When it’s right, they can be funny (Mama You Gots To Love Your Negro Man, Let’s Duet) but they are always musically sound work you’d want to listen to again and again. John C. Reilly (playing Cox from age 14 onward) sings with the natural enthusiasm of a man born to this life - he becomes Cox. As the women in his life, Kristen Wiig and Jenna Fischer fulfill their archetypes with “I’m not just The Girl” gusto. (Groovy acoustic solo artist Angela Correa sings smokily for Jenna.)
Reilly is always dead serious, even when loudly braying a cornball joke - he doesn’t wink. The movie does, all around him. It’s a loving tribute to the biopic genre as much as a treatise on the absurdity of portraying an artist’s lifetime of influences in a neat, linear package, godly as well. What you will walk out of Walk Hard with though is a hankering for more Dewey Cox songs. Be sure to stay through the credits for a little bonus.
MPAA Rating R-sexual content, drug use, language, nudity
Release date 12/21/07
Time in minutes 96
Director Jake Kasdan
Studio Columbia Pictures
