Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Reilly and great music scenes save film from disaster

With the description of the film and story (mock rock bio) already covered, I won't go into that again.

What works in the film is John C. Reilly, absolutely pouring himself into the persona of Dewey in his many phases, and delivering some fine singing and playing in the expertly crafted musical scenes.

All these period pieces are done with wit (which is something the rest of the film could have used more of) and it is telling that they mostly involve people other than the director and scriptwriter.

Apatow, in all fairness, does his best work with the music sequences, but exhibits just an appalling lack of instinct when it comes to the pacing and content of many of the dramatic scenes, particularly the icky, badly done machete sequence with the boys. Often I would just want to yell 'cut already' as scenes would disintegrate into pointlessness.

The script has some of the worst constructed dialogue I've heard in a while.
The brother talking about how "there ain't nothing I won't do in this long, long life of mine" to hammer home that, sure, it won't be a very long life...I am sure at the script conference, such 'hip' weird sentences are terribly funny, but try to sit through them on film....

So why 4 stars? Because Reilly and company are a blast when they sing and play, and there are some good scenes that work, such as a roaring, lusty Harlem-style club where Dewey, being the token white, steps in for the singer and tears the place up.
This is where the film works, because it balances between Reilly and the writer's penchant for raunchy material. But way too much material is just too juvenile to fit with the gentler style of Reilly at his best.

This one could have been on the level of 'Spinal Tap' if the writing had taken a clue from the songwriting: like I said, real wit.

C. June 27, 2008

In my mind you're blowin' me...some kisses

Going into this movie every viewer must be expecting ridiculousness bordering on stupidity. Instead, Dewey Cox flirts with validity, and delivers a solid string of laughs. It is a ridiculous movie - make no mistake - but it's also consistently funny, and almost impossible to dislike.

With obvious jabs at the movies "Ray", "Walk the Line", and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and a saturation of overacting mixed with slapstick comedy, there is a danger of becoming kind of stupid-funny like "Airplane", but without the same level of comedy provided by that classic. The positive side, however, is that it doesn't go too far, and ends up being more like "Talledega Nights".

The duet between Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) and Darlene Madison (Jenna Fischer), appropriately titled "Let's Duet", is undeniably hilarious, with sexual undertones so obvious that they become overtones. Later in the movie there is a song about midgets performed in a pseudo-Bob Dylan style done with enough PIZZAZZ to let the viewer know the makers of the move are willing to do anything for comedy's sake. The story-line and family history provided as background, and supported throughout by the brilliant, curmudgeounly cameos of Pa Cox (Raymond Barry), add significant character and story development, not to mention the fact that the handful of cameos by some of today's best young comedy actors (i.e. Tim Meadows, Justin Long, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill) do nothing but add depth and comedic support.

Aside from the musical score, which is actually quite good, and fairly similar to much of what is considered contemporary good music, perhaps the most amazing aspect of the movie is that there are incredibly deep and profound lessons throughout, many of which add validity and depth to this otherwise absurd, yet hilarious look into the life of a rock star. June 22, 2008

i loved this spoof

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2-Disc Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray]

i really loved walk the line but have to admit this spoof and was dead on and actually followed walk the line to a t
i didnt think i would like this movie and actually put of renting it
but when i rented i immediately used a gift card on this
the bonus features on the 2 disc blu ray are awesome

john c reily was fantastic in this as dewey cox

i love the cameos

i loved this movie and is great to have on blu ray
and for 11.00 couldnt beat it for a fairly new blu ray

i highly recommend this movie but at a lower price
not worth it top dollar

but at bargain price it is

however be warned in the unrated version there is a lot of graphic sex
thats why its rated unrated
if you cant handle it then this version is not the one for you June 14, 2008

Could have been A LOT better

After reading many of the reviews posted here, I decided to rent "Walk Hard. Big mistake. I hardly laughed at all and I didn't even finish watching it because I fell asleep. Do not rent this movie. It's not worth the $3.99 I paid for it. June 8, 2008

"What a package!"

Most comedies these days are dreary and unfunny, deliberately dumbed down affairs that insult the intelligence of the kiddies who watch them. They're either gross-out "teen movies" like TOMCATS or mind-numbingly bad "parodies" like the SCARY MOVIE and the other monthly lame title with MOVIE in it.

Although WALK HARD appeared to be another underwhelming parody of musical bios, it's actually very funny, a very well-written satire of the music business as well as its history and movie bio-pics.

John C. Reilly does a good job, throwing himself into the performance, although I spent most of the movie wondering if he was the right choice. He's been such a terrific character actor that I didn't know if he could play a country/rock/folk/disco/rap star. I still wonder how they movie would've played if someone like Val Kilmer played the role.

The rest of the cast is also excellent. Tim Meadows is great as the band's drummer who seems to be into every drug of the 20th Century--and the 21st Century!

A suggestion for you: watch the film with the English subtitles so you can catch every word of the hilarious songs sung throughout the movie. June 6, 2008

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