Ok, so “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox” isn’t going to win any Academy Awards, that’s for sure, and yes, the ironic and self-deprecating Oscar campaign shows the filmmakers behind this project – are fully aware of this, but that’s not to say it’s not funny.
One motif we kept hearing (and one we said ourselves for a long time) was that the trailer looked terrible and unfunny, but surprisingly quite the opposite. In fact, most comedy trailers spoil the best part and tons of clips from the movie has leaked and it’s still quite the riot is near impossible to say about most stupid comedies.
And make no mistake it’s a stupid comedy. In fact, ‘Walk Hard’ is idiotically funny almost in the vein of a Zucker brothers comedy (though not quite), but that doesn’t mean it’s not humorous, it’s just base, immature retarded humor (that’s not an observational comment, not a pejorative one).
Essentially, it’s the crudest and knowingly low-brow of the recent Apatow comedies with not a lot of heart to go along with the usual penis jokes (see “Knocked Up”), but it still works (and there is a sort of half-hearted attempt at adding some feeling and empathy near the end). John C. Reilly does a great job of commanding the picture, handling the Will Ferrell-like wild-ego protagonist and a fantastic job of singing the film’s ridiculous songs.
Obviously not a masterpiece though, the film isn’t without its flaws. Jenna Fischer is not much more than a paper weight, The White Stripes’ Jack White isn’t funy and The Beatles are kind of miscast. Apatow uses every slot he can to throw in one of the Apatow family players and there’s a ton of pointless cameos, but some of them are forced and stupid (Jonah Hill’s being the most flagrantly moronic and frankly detrimental and hey, we like him, but not here). Frankie Muniz shows up for a second, Jack Black makes a cameo (he does a godawful Paul McCartney impression, more on the ‘Walk Hard’ Beatles here) and most of the cast and side players of “Superbad” and “Knocked-Up” make some sort of appearance.
The aforementioned half-hearted “middle eight” section of the third act falls apart too, but it’s not like we expected genius throughout.
What works best is how good the stupid-funny is and how well the Dewey Cox story holds up on its own outside of rock’s touchstones. The songs – wisely played straight – are silly, clever, replete with double entendres and comedic in the most unsophisticated and vulgar of manners. The film also has the distinction of finally making Tim Meadows funny in a film, something that’s never actually happened before – he makes for an excellent side-player (as does ex-SNL member Chris Parnell).
The spoofs are great too. Dewey’s Dylan period – best showcased in the exaggeratedly absurd and obtuse song, “Royal Jelly” (sample lyrics: “Mailboxes drip like lampposts in the twisted birth of the Colosseum”) – is hysterical and it also inadvertently gets in some digs at “I’m Not There” with it’s flash-bulb fueled press conference satirizing and retarded question and answers. The overwrought Brian Wilson Pet Sounds phase is pretty amusing too (though it seemed to go over the heads of the audience we saw it with).
Obviously the film is parodying music biopics, but it thankfully doesn’t look to them in with any specific manner or obligatory references (or at least they’re not overt) and instead it mocks the larger picture, and more importantly, the A to B to C character arch they all follow (sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, Behind the Music rise, fall and redemption).
‘Walk Hard’ isn’t earthshattering’ it’s not going to change your life, but it’s probably better than you expect and if you’re looking for a lot of fun, gut-busting dumb laughs, it’s pretty much what the doctor ordered. [B] [ed. ‘Walk Hard’ opens this weekend]
