Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Life made him tough. Love made him strong. Music made him hard.
The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly), whose songs would change a nation. On his rock'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 kids and 14 stepkids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to (and then kicks) every drug known to man, but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman.
| Don Abernathy | Pygmy Bushman/Man in 50's Club |
| Patrick J. Adams | The Kid |
| George Anton | Hotel Groupie |
| Michael William Arnold | Dewey's kid |
| Christopher Ausburn | Grandson |
| Caleb Babcock | Dewey's son |
| Raymond J. Barry | |
| Paul Bates | Nightclub Manager |
| Terrence Beasor | Doctor |
| Matt Besser | Dave |
| Jay Bird | Rock Star |
| Rian Bishop | Concert Patron |
| Jack Black | |
| Clement Blake | Edith's Dad |
| Ian Bodell | Son |
| Jake Kasdan |
6.90 out of 10 (12331 votes)
Visitor Reviews
I Wanted To Walk (Out) Hard
posted on 19 Aug 2009Wow! What a horrible movie. I just finished watching Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and I feel robbed. After the money I spent on food, beverages, and all of the tickets I could have paid for John C. Reilly to come to my house and place a fresh turd on my chest rather than watch the one that I just did. I mean, I expected more from Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad) than this. There were maybe two funny things about the whole movie and thats it. The rapper in the end was named Lil' Nutsack and that made me laugh. Also the gratuitous showing of the male sex organ brought a chuckle. Not because the penis is funny itself, but because of the situations you see it ("Dewey, have you seen my sandal?"). Many of the racially insensitive jokes are not even funny enough to warrant a rise out of the groups that might be offended. Other than those ridiculous moments mentioned earlier, the rest was so bad that a person stranded on a dessert island without humor for ten years would not find much humor. Besides the overall poor story, I was surprised to see the cameos from music legends Eddie Vedder, Jackson Browne, and the Temptations.
Better than expected and entirely quotable
posted on 17 Aug 2009The trailers for this movie don't do it any justice. I thought it was going to be pretty bad. I mean it's silly, extremely silly but I laughed from beginning to end. The movie it reminds me most of is my #8 favorite movie of all time (yes I keep a list) 'Top Secret!'. Not since Nick Rivers have I seen such an amazing performance from a phony rock star. Also if you're a fan of cheesy biopics or "Behind the Music", this should really entertain you. Surprisingly, to me at least, it also is a very good musical. I'm not kidding. John C. Reilly is much better here than in his Oscar nominated performance in 'Chicago'. This is going to sound wrong but this part just fits him better. And he's a really good singer. I'm thinking I just might buy the soundtrack.At different points you can see bits and pieces of 'Ray', 'Walk the Line' (of course), 'What's Love Got to Do With It', 'The Doors', every rock n' roll movie you can think of. Oh and I love the casting of the Beatles. Paul Rudd's awful portrayal of Lennon just rocked. You see, it's meant to be like all the bad TV movie portrayals of rock stars that you've seen. However, Jason Schwartzman could have passed for Ringo. But the casting of Paul is just priceless.The movie, as I said, is really well done. I kept thinking "oh when I get home I'm going to use that quote as my sig". And then the next one would be even better. For that reason I think this movie will become even better on repeated viewings. But it's not for everyone. There's nakedness in this movie, lots. And some cursing and silly drug use. So if that stuff bothers you, it's probably not for you but I'd say it's for people who don't get offended easily and are fine with laughing at other people. I loved it.
A poor lad is tossed out of his home at age 14 and makes a name for himself with his music.
posted on 17 Aug 2009The songs are great. So just sit back, close your eyes, ignore the dialogue and what else is going happening on the screen, and wait for the music. The rest of the movie is just awful. Maybe I'm too old for Judd Apatow, since I find a lot of his movies very juvenile, and this movie is about as juvenile as it gets (but with actors too old to be doing this). And though I have seen some "juvenile" flicks that are funny, I did not find one thing funny, or even clever, about this movie. The jokes were forced, the dialogue seemed something out of a Ma and Pa Kettle movie, and every single stereotype came across as not funny at all. I also thought, as some did, that the casting was wrong. Not that I do not like John Reilly, but lately he's been in some real bombs (Step Brothers comes to mind). John and Judd: You can do better.
One long, repetitive, painful joke
posted on 13 Aug 2009Good Lord, this was bad. I expected a lot more out of Judd Apatow, who has quickly become one of my favorite directors with the 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad. But this was just awful...it's basically another Will Ferrell movie gone bad.John C. Reilly is pretty redundant as the lead role in this; pretty much anyone could have been inserted into the role of Dewey Cox and done the same job. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't particularly funny, either, and for a lead role in a high-expectations comedy like this one, that just doesn't cut it. Doesn't help that the supporting actors were all just terrible, to say the least. The whole Beatles scene is just retarded - I think my IQ dropped a minimum of 10 points after watching a bloated Jack Black repeatedly tell us "I'm Paul McCahtnay" - it's an SNL skit gone bad. Even Tim Meadows, one of my favorite comedians, derives ALL of his comedy from the same joke in the film, which is funny the first time you see it, but not the sixth time. Which leads me to my next point...Repetitive is really an understatement in describing this film's humor. Jokes that aren't even that funny to begin with, such as a jackass father repeating "the wrong kid died!" or Dewey tearing sinks out of the wall in his fits of rage, managed to recur throughout the film and made me sigh in disappointment.If you've seen Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory, or any VH1 Rock Documentary, then you've seen this movie. I'm aware that the movie is supposed to be a complete spoof of these typical "rise to fame, fall from grace, then regain your glory" films, but its delivery was just awful. Whereas a film such as "This Is Spinal Tap" managed to cleverly spoof the genre, "Walk Hard" is not clever in any way, which is critical to a film like this. Do yourself a favor and skip this one
Great mockumentary!
posted on 13 Aug 2009Recap: It's about for famous Dewey Cox to take the stage. But before he does he just needs a moment to remember his life. It began an awful long time ago, and is marked by the death of his older brother Nate. Dewey accidentally cut Nate in half with a machete and it has hunted him ever since. But it also gave him the gift of blues, and lead him to his life of music. It is a story of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll.Comments: I'm not sure it is really right to spoof and parody a movie that is a biopic of someone's life. But… it is great, it is hilarious. The Dewey Cox Story is obviously a parody of Walk the line but also spoofs great many other legendary musicians. It is a fine line to make a parody like this funny but not over the line and insulting, but The Dewey Cox Story negotiates that line masterfully.It's a fast paced story with a lot of twists and turns. There are a lot of laughs and it's a great comedy to relax to. But actually, the music isn't that bad either. Sure, it pays to pay attention to the lyrics but the songs also resemble the time they are meant to spoof.John C Reilly has had a long career and has had to worked hard to get the lead parts in the big movies. But now they're here and in this he handles it as good as anyone. He is perfect for the role. And he has got a good supporting cast too, not to mention the musicians that have cameos.If you have the DVD I can also recommend the special feature The Real Dewey Cox. To watch that after the movie is a perfect ending.Just hilarious.8/10
what a waste of celluloid!
posted on 11 Aug 2009My apologies to Mr. Reilly, because he sings rather well in the soundtrack, but this ranks well up on my list of all-time stupidest films ever made in the history of cinematography. The R-rating is well-earned due to the juvenile attempts at comedy involving nudity. The attempts failed. The story-line was weak, but not dying until the authors and directors tried to fluff it out with the nudity which was pointless and the stupid jokes about doing drugs. In a day and age when drug abuse amongst American youth is at an all-time high, these attempts at humour were stupid and in extremely bad taste. True, Dewey Cox does fight his drug habit, but the attempts at humour involving the rehab process were also in extremely bad taste. Basically, this entire movie was in extremely bad taste. If you have to resort to 3rd-grader jokes about nudity and inane jokes about drug abuse and attempts at detox and rehab, then the project just needs to be scrapped. There just wasn't enough of a decent story line to make the project worth paying the $6.50 I paid to go see it. Message to other filmmakers - please don't write down to your audience all the time. There are those of us out there who do have brains and like to use them to enjoy intelligent humour.
Supprisingly Funny.
posted on 09 Aug 2009I really enjoyed this movie. Dry wit, and some good one-liners. Simple but fun. The music was very good too which helped move the movie along without the felling of a dry patch in the running of the film. Happy day, I'd recommend it to anyone... but don't get me wrong, it's not Wedding Crashers or old school. I'm a bit glade Will Farrell didn't get this roll.. he would have been the obvious title role choice but it's good to see John C getting a lead in a comedy. He is good in this roll; he helps sets you up from the start, to come along for this dry humour laugh and a half. I always judge a movie by weather I'd go back and watch it again or when it comes out on TV, (this is especially true for comedies) this is one movie that I'd have no problem watching at least two or three times before I'd get sick of it.
beat for beat, second for second, the funniest parody I've seen in years
posted on 07 Aug 2009"...and remember it doesn't say Cox, unless I say it tastes like Cox." This is an example of prime send-up, a parody that lovingly references everything in rock-music-bio-pics, from (the obvious centerpiece) Walk the Line, Ray, Don't Look Back, Elvis flicks, The Doors, and countless others, including a mention to Yellow Submarine and the eras of Motown, rockabilly, even punk (yes, more than a decade before there is punk a version of Walk Hard is played). Kasdan and Apatow get what it is to do a send up, which is to be knowing of all the conventions, clichés, and formulas that end up coming out of what are, actually, real-life stories already put into a simple context. It follows the tradition of the ZAZ team (Airplane and Naked Gun) by delivering a joke or gag or just something weird every other second, and it builds up into one of the funniest movies in years.A friend of mine said recently that it takes someone to actually really like and admire what they're spoofing in order for it to be pulled off. This helps, of course, as one can tell that Mel Brooks had a love for the theater and musicals for The Producers and horror movies with Frankenstein, and more recently Edgar Wright with action flicks and Hot Fuzz. But there's another component, I think, that separates a film like Walk Hard from the recent slew of "Movies" (Date, Epic, the upcoming Meet the Spartans) is that the people working on Walk Hard are some of the funniest people working in Hollywood today, and knowing what makes fresh, vulgar send-up work. It's not simply about mashing up pop-culture references to make them stick, there has to be just something that clicks through the writing and acting.Walk Hard has that in spades- from the opening jokes (yes jokes, and they're running ones) about Dewey slicing his brother in half with a machete (with the brother still giving words of advice cut in half, and leading up to the also running gag "The wrong kid died!" line), going into playing the blues as a little white kid, to being 14 (and played by Reilly, of course) marrying a 12 year old fan, to the sudden bolts of inspiration for songs in the middle of a scene- not to mention the lyrics- it's already apparent this will be good stuff. But then there's more: Hasidim music agents with names like Kvetch L'Chaim; drug scenes out of Ray "You don't want to do this!"; the ups and downs and the meetings with other famous stars ("Hey, George Harrison"). I could go on and on about the little details as well, some of which are probably too much to even mention in this review.Suffice to say Reilly pops out of a shell that he's been in over the past decade or so. One of the superb character actors of his generation (yes, I'm sounding like a pompously sounding critic for now), he's fantastic as Dewey Cox, giving him a sensibility that goes past simple parody- we actually end up feeling for this drug-addicted adulterer who goes in and out of rehab and finally settles in with his few dozen children of various mixed ethnicities (the catching montage, by the way, is priceless). He gives the character that 'umph' that even makes him more human than Leslie Nielson's Frank Drebin, and he creates so many absurd moments that it's easy to miss some of his subtle charms and dramatic touches. Just seeing him talk to a ghost Jonah Hill as "older ghost" brother Nate reveals his multi-faceted gifts.And like A Mighty Wind, Kasdan and Apatow and composer Michael Andrews make the songs legitimately good numbers amid some of the crudest innuendo in movie history (songs go between 'innocent' sexual acts to midgets and then to a huge orchestral number including countless tribes-people). Reilly also has the backup, acting-wise, of people from SNL (Meadows and Parnell), The Office (Fischer and Ed Helms) and of course past Apatow works (Rudd, Black, Long and Schwartzman give a movie-stealing scene as the Beatles in India). In the end, it's everything I love in a go-for-broke comedy that still sticks to the numerous predecessors it's imitating. And, if anything, it one-ups those movies as well as legitimate entertainment.So Walk Hard... Hard... to the movie theater!
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Reflections of a rolling stone in a fun house mirror
posted on 05 Aug 2009Walk Hard; The Dewey Cox Story; here in referred to as (WHTDCS) by this author is this years Forest Gump (1994). Concider, Forest Gump is mentally challenged, his best friend Bubba has a speech impediment, Lt. Dan is a double amputee, and his girl friend Jenny, dies of AIDS, all in the span of 30 years. The era is almost the same for both films as well as the violence, adult language, adult content, sexuality, drug use, political activism, rock and roll and racial equality issues. Granted Forest Gump was rated PG-13 and WHTDCS is rated R for male non-sexual frontal nudity, and a bit more funny, adult content but this film was made 13 years later, in actual time.The title WHTDCS, may be more offense to the American public but with a film titled Knocked Up (2007) the gloves are already off. Back to comparing both films; when the public watched Forest Gump, they laughed out loud but as previously stated, the main characters were mentally retarded, confined to a wheel chair, an alcoholic, suffering from a speech disorder, and dying of AIDS! Yet, the film viewing public more often than not found this film a comedy, is it not strange to laugh at those less fortunate than most! WHTDCS is very much like the cast in Forest Gump; Dewey Cox (John C. Rielly) has no sense of smell, his lead drummer is a drug addict as well as the rest of his band and Dewey is forced to leave home at the age of 16! Satire allows the audience to laugh at a sad situation like Forest Gump and WHTDCS. In the early 1960's Monte Python's Flying Circus hit the airways of Public Television in The USA, America had found a new comedy. It was great fun to laugh at The British! All of their silly walks, Spam, Spam, Spam, etc.,etc.,etc., but we were laughing at our English neighbors, not at ourselves. WHTDCS is grand satire at America, and Americans may find that too salty a meal to digest. Director Jake Kardan has made a very funny film, a pun unto itself, with actor John C. Reilly in the lead doing stand-up. Sadly the box office does not reflect the gross product of Dewey Cox, however hard, he may walk.
The wrong kid died / The wrong kid died...
posted on 05 Aug 2009I have only walked out on one film in my life. This almost became the second. It was that bad.John C. Reilly has to be given credit for delivering the lines in this film with a straight face. I couldn't have done it.The dialog was plain cringe inducing. Only a tweener boy would find the lines remotely funny. The only thing resembling humor were the drug lines, and a tweener wouldn't have gotten what was so funny about them.This film ranks with Beerfest as the lowest of the low.Raymond J. Barry as Pa Cox, and Jenna Fischer as Darlene were the only redeeming lights in this otherwise unfunny movie.
Cal Naughton Jr. no longer finishing second
posted on 30 Jul 2009Oh yes this movie was funny. I didn't have many expectations, if any, of this movie, but it certainly delivered. I knew from the trailers and ads that the movie was going to parallel if not parody "Walk the Line", but there were also several references to "Ray". I would say one of the funniest references to "Ray" was Dewey Cox losing his sense of smell.Initially it looked like the movie would be very cheesy with punchlines being telegraphed well ahead of time. But, even with the punchlines being blatantly set up, it was better to go with the transparent set up instead of the thinly veiled set ups that a lot of comedies use.Interestingly enough there was not much profanity which made its usage that much funnier. Now, I certainly could've done without the male nudity, but maybe that was only in the unrated version. Even still, by and large John C. Reily held his own and the movie was terrific.
a very bad movie that people should see (garbage)
posted on 28 Jul 2009I seen bits and pieces of this movie and this movie is horrible. Heres the rules about this movie. First Dewey Cox does something to a teenage girl and he said that she is going to have babies and the frontal nudity is showing and it is very inappropriate thing to do. Second saying bad language to take care of babies is very terrible. Third those immigrants are also suppose to be in a different country because they should not let these guys help Dewey Cox. Fourth Those animals that Dewey cox has should have not be in this film because a ape should live in the jungles at Afrca and the giraffe too. Last they should of made this movie NC-17 for bad language, frontal teenage girl nudity, and sex humor. I hate you Dewey Cox your confusing everyone to see this movie.
Tries a little to hard sometimes
posted on 28 Jul 2009I thought the film was really entertaining, though not everything was good. Meadows is hilarious, bringing an excellent element to his character. Unfortunately, the full male frontal nudity wasn't funny, but rather just disturbing. With the exclusion of that scene and a better built-up ending, the film would have had a much stronger punch for me. I would like to add that I had no expectation going into the film. I was curious, but did not expect good or bad things from it. I was overall pleasantly surprised. I don't know if I would recommend the film to people, but it is good for some quick laughs. Overall rating - C+
Judd and Jake out of their depth
posted on 24 Jul 2009Judd Apatow, whose involvement in social comedies has been so successful lately, teams up with his "Freaks and Geeks" collaborator Jake Kasdan and dancing actor John C. Reilly (who showed us some nice soft-shoe in Chicago) to attempt a satirical musical biopic in Walk Hard. Drawing obviously on Walk the Line, Ray, and other sources, these guys do their best to provide some Christmas end-of-the-year cheer, but their "hard walk" goes soft and staggers toward the end. Cox is a catchall of a pop singer, a chameleon Zelig/Forest Gump whose life from age 14, where Reilly absurdly takes on the role from a younger actor, till early 70's, runs through blues, soul, country, punk--you name it--with appropriate drugs. There's pot for soul, LSD for psychedelic rock--Cox gets to hang out with a crude version of the Beatles in India with the Mahirishi. Cocaine leads him to punk--and so on. The trouble (or one trouble, anyway) is that though he's game to a fault, Reilly is colorless to begin with. It's impossible to believe teenyboppers would swoon for him. He has zero sex appeal. And that isn't funny like Steve Martin's "wild and crazy guy," either.The constant shifts of musical style neglect to give Cox any unifying factor whatever. Apatow might as well have used six different actors for Cox, a la Todd Haynes with Bob Dylan. And Cox has a Dylan phase. Only you know what? The Dylanesque lyrics aren't at all funny, and satire ought to appeal to devotees. This is a music movie about a musician who hasn't a scintilla of musical authenticity. Or even a consistent shtick.Of course there are plenty of laughs, but Walk Hard is little more than a string of jokes and rough-hewn, even gruesome stunts. The way relatives are killed off seems infantile violent, while the sexual humor is adolescent. Jokes like the humping motions of couples in a black club, and the Jewish music producers dressed in full Orthodox regalia and with names like Mazeltov and Dreidel really appeal to the basest responses of the audience. This is way too sloppy work to compare with witty musical satire, and Apatow's and Kasdan's catchall screenplay seems lazy--ultimately uninventive.Of course this is meant to be Reilly's picture, but he's the victim of it.While it's been said the string of songs composed for Reilly to sing ups the ante for such satire, the incessant shifts in style keep the movie from every coming close to achieving the subtlety and point of a classic comic music movie like This is Spinal Tap, which defined a genre and style, or an oddball serious fake music documentary like Brothers of the Head--both of which evoke the worlds and times they come from brilliantly: Walk Hard doesn't really try.The movie's only (questionable) new note is the incessant mockery of the devices of music biopics. There it does have a clear and relentless point. The trouble is, it apes those biopics too closely. Again, Apatow and Kasdan have been lazy and unimaginative, good only at reaching for laughs--and too often reaching mighty low for them.This movie turns humble musical rural people into trailer trash. It's a trailer trash movie. But where the biopic evocation falls short is that Cox really has an easy time of it. He's neither a Johnny Cash nor a Ray Charles. He doesn't suffer the consequences of his drug use or his marital failures. So the "hard" of Rock Hard is only a word, unlike the genuine rough life lived by Charles and Cash. This is the trouble with taking everything lightly--and going to overly gruesome extremes to show a dark side of the past. It veers from the bloody to the shallow, with nothing in between. Of course the lighthearted approach was okay, in fact downright welcome, in the youth comedies of Knocked Up or Juno or the trivial adolescent coming of age hassles of Superbad--moments in young lives the kids are going to move on from. But for a life from 14 to 70, this approach leaves you feeling empty.
Flawlessly Funny Farce About Music Bio-Pics With Terrific Songs!
posted on 06 Jul 2009You'll laugh so much watching "Orange County" director Jake Kasdan's comedy "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" that you might have to change your drawers. Kasdan penned this impudent, politically incorrect spoof with "Knocked-Up" & "Superbad" scribe Judd Apatow that mercilessly lampoons last year's poignant Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon biography "Walk the Line" of superstar pop singer Johnny Cash. Unlike so many recent spoofs, such as "Date Movie" and "Epic Movie," "Walk Hard" contents itself strictly with shredding one movie rather than an entire year's worth. Surprisingly, however, Kasdan and Apatow not only manage to make the resemblance clear between "Walk Hard" and "Walk the Line" unmistakable, but also these two fertile minds drag in other superstar singers both dead and alive for added texture. The sheer brilliance of "Walk Hard" is how perfectly Kasdan and Apatow ridicule the conventions of the famous singer musical biography. Again, unlike second-rate spoofs that the wring only the most superficial jokes out of the hero's predicament, this parody goes deeper with its devotion to detail. "Walk Hard" takes us on a nostalgic journey through the rebellious 1950s to the psych-out 1960s, skewering musical genres like soul music, bubble-gun music, rock music, punk music, surfing music, and social protest music. The film charts its passage of time with repeated encounters between the hero and his band's drummer in a toilet abusing illicit narcotics with warm, willing, and wanton women. Moreover, Kasdan and Apatow transcend their satiric origins and forge characters that genuinely interest us for their own foibles rather than the synthesis of stereotypes that we've come to recognize over the years. For example, protagonist Dewey Cox brings to mind a number of famous singers, among them Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan."Walk Hard" provides songs that mimic those Cash, Orbison, and Dylan classics, and the performers here deliver reasonably convincing renditions. Indeed, some of the humor, particularly the inclusion of lower frontal male nudity, may offend some unsuspecting moviegoers. Kasdan doesn't try to sneak a shot of male genitals past when you might not be looking. He displays male genitalia twice and draws attention to it without fear. Few mainstream American film releases have been this daring in this respect. Typically, only European imports have these largely taboo shots.Talented John C. Reilly of "Boogie Nights" does a superb job as curly-headed Dewey Cox, the youngest son of a rural Springberry, Alabama, farmer with one older son and a younger daughter, who attains fame and fortune. "Blades of Glory" actress Jenna Fischer as Darlene plays the equivalent of Reese Witherspoon's June Carter Cash and she is delightful. Darlene and Dewey sing a hilarious duet on stage filled with double-entrendes entitled "Let's Duet." Like "Walk the Line," "Walk Hard" opens at a modern-day concert tribute to the hero and the stage manager is rushing breathlessly around trying to find Dewey Cox. Eventually, he discovers him in a dark hallway, his guitar slung over his back, his head bowed deep-in-thought as he ponders his past, leaning forward on one arm braced against the wall. Dewey's drummer Sam (Tim Meadows of " ") informs the stage manager: "Dewey Cox must rethink his entire life before he plays." Kasdan and Apatow tell their story predominantly in flashback. We learn that Dewey had an older brother, Nate ( as a child and as a grown-up dead man) who was a musical progeny as well as the apple of his doting father's eye. Nate lives a charmed life, risking life and limb more often than not with fires, runaway horses, until he meets his untimely death during a duel in the barn with Dewey. They are fencing with a pair of machetes and Dewey loses the sheath for his machete and accidentally cuts his older brother into two pieces. The adolescent actor appears to be buried from the waist down in hay so that he can be alongside his trunk-less pelvis and legs. Dewey's father never lets his surviving son live down this accident. Repeatedly, through the action, the father appears and reminds Dewey that the wrong son died. Repeatedly, the ghost of dead Nate appears to Dewey (rather like the ghosts in "Stardust") and lecture the hero. At one point, Dewey meets the Beatles during their sojourn in India. Dewey rubs shoulders with the Beatles and the filmmakers show that they know a thing or two about these immortal icons. Paul Rudd plays John; Jack Black does an amusing turn as Paul; Jason Schwartzman is appropriately goofy as Ringo and Justin Long scores as George Harrison and they introduce Dewey to LSD.Kasdan and Apatow hit more often than miss with their jokes in this consistently funny as well as moving musical biography parody. The songs are incredibly flavorful and funny, too. Margo Martindale excels as Dewey's homily, obese mom, while Raymond J. Barry steals the show as his strident father. "Walk Hard" is strides beyond most cinematic satires.
Another unique, but still generic niche piece benefits from musical context
posted on 06 Jul 2009Although comedic ringleader Judd Apatow keeps inching further and further away from doing what he does best, opting instead to propel his line of talent into a brand name of sorts, he does show up now and again with some of the better gags (in a mostly underwhelming and self-conscious screenplay) throughout the rock-bio, high concept prank Walk Hard. Some of the music movie jabs may rub fans the wrong way for being a bit crude or distasteful, but for every third half-cooked rock cliché parody the movie shamelessly exploits, one clever and unique joke rears it's head to keep seasoned comedy fans and music-heads interested.In what might be quintessential "friend of" John C. Reilly's first headlining gig since his lead in Paul Thomas Anderson's relatively obscure debut Hard Eight, casting proves competent at least. When the repetitious, shallow Saturday Night Live extended sketch (complete with obligatory multiple cast members)vibe starts to sink in, at least a brisk, mock-epic pace laced with impressively produced, silly pseudo-songs make this walk worth taking once.
Not completely terrible but ultimately a letdown
posted on 28 Jun 2009Just finished watching Walk Hard (the uncut version) and my initial feeling is one of mild disappointment to be honest as I would consider myself a fan of Judd Apatow and his name is what drew me to it. That being said I don't think the film is a complete waste of time as there were some funny moments but no belly laughs that I have enjoyed with his other work. The film is overly long (okay I accept I was watching the extended version but that's only an extra 25 mins whilst I felt it could have lost around 40-45) and some of the jokes are repeated a bit too often such as the drug taking scenes (once was funny) which eventually I could predict happening. Some other reviewers have slated the way the music icons appearing such as Elvis and Buddy Holly constantly referred to themselves by name in the third person with one reviewer going so far as to say he knows who they are and doesn't need to be constantly reminded. This guy is missing the joke! The celebrities playing these people are so unlike their characters that it's necessary for them to remind us and its a knowing wink to the audience. The "cameo" by the Beatles is also highly amusing. This could have been a lot better but I think the combination of too many pointless characters given a large chunk of screen time (Deweys band and Darleen spring to mind) and the long run time, which seemed to mean lots of padding, lets this film down. Quite funny in some places but my criteria for recommendation of any film is whether I'd give it a repeat viewing. In the case of Walk Hard, sadly, its a No.
Worst Movie He Has Directed
posted on 28 Jun 2009I don't understand what he was thinking in this movie. It was undeniably the worst movie I have ever seen period. The spoofing of other movies was worn out with the scary movie series. And this movie was spoofing a life story of a real man in his long and apparently journey though life. I hated this movie with ever bit of my being and I really think the only way I would watch it again was if i got paid to. Superbad and other movies directed by Judd were good, as a matter of fact they actually had a story line an real significance. But this movie really wasn't worth the film it was on. I fail to see the nominations that were brought on by the Golden Globes. There are far better movies out at this time and or have been in the past year, including Superbad and other movies.
Don't Walk Hard To See This.
posted on 26 Jun 2009I was so excited to see this movie when it came out, and that's what made it even worse when I saw it and realized it sucked. This movie could have and should have been a lot better. The idea of a struggling blues singer striving for success is such a great idea for a movie and it was completely wasted here. Very few of the jokes were even laugh material at all. John C. Reilly was woefully disappointing, and sadly enough, the funniest character in this film was Jon Lennon (played by Paul Rudd), who appeared for about 4 minutes. Things started out OK, but once time started passing rapidly, this movie spiraled downward, getting worse by the minute. By the time the movie was half-way through I was already hoping for it to end soon. And by the time the final 15 minutes or so have arrived, this movie was pretty much terrible by todays comedy standards. Judd Apatow was only loosely affiliated with this project, so I won't bash him too much, but this movie is absolute garbage compared to things like "Knocked Up", and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". Don't Walk Hard, walk away, that's what I say!
Dewey Cox Story Delivers ***
posted on 27 Aug 2009John C. Reilly does a credible job as a rock singer in this film.This movie is really a take-off on the problems of the 1950s musical singers of the Elvis Presley genre. We see a young marriage falling apart, drug abuse, rising to fame too quickly.Denny is never forgiven by his father due to the tragic death of his younger brother. In addition, the way that it is showed how the mother died some years after that tragedy was rather silly. Falling out of a window with a radio landing on top of her was pretty unbelievable.Reilly, who sang his way to an Oscar nomination in "Chicago," does sing well here again.The movie is a good one as it shows the importance of family.