In what has to be the most bizarre musical bio-pic ever, real or fake, John C. Reilly plays Dewey Cox, a man who lived enough for about six lifetimes worth of movies. From the Judd Apatow comedy college comes Walk Hard, a theme song for a generation and a movie that takes parody to an astounding level of dedication that the guys behind stuff like Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans couldn’t fathom. The film’s not without it’s faults but what it does best is take it to the mat on every play, not matter the risk to bodily harm or good taste.



The movie follows Cox from such youthful indiscretions, like cutting his younger, more talented brother in half during a machete fight, to fame and fortune as a pop culture phenomenon. Predominately riffing off the Johnny Cash bio-pic Walk the Line, Dewey Cox (must always be said together) leaves behind his life on the farm and a disproving father that always comments how the wrong kid died, to pursue fame and fortune in the city with his high school sweetheart (Kristen Wiig). His career and personal life has its ups and downs, but the talent of Dewey Cox is such that he’s constantly finding himself at the crossroads of popular music and always ahead of the trends.



Director Jake Kasdan along with co-writer Apatow have gone above and beyond the call of parody. Dewey Cox is no mere sketch, but a full-bodied narrative that works even if you haven’t seen Walk the Line or any other musician’s biography. It’s actually pretty sharp, but that doesn’t stop it from being too silly. There are a lot of great running gags from Dewey’s sinking-tearing rampage’s to Pa Cox’s frequent repose (“The wrong kid died.”) to Tim Meadows’ Sam being the gateway for every new drug that finds its way into popular music, from pot to Viagra.



Helping the funny is the fact that the movie is filled with so many great performers. Reilly has been a reliable character actor for years in films like Magnolia, The Good Girl and The Aviator, but he wholeheartedly embraces the screwball world of Dewey Cox with the same vigour. There are also a lot of great cameos from Malcolm in the Middle’s Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly to Jack White as Elvis to Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman as The Beatles. Even real life musicians like Jewel, Lyle Lovitt and the Temptations get in on the fun, even if it is purely for the purposes of a sight gag.



The most surprising element of the film though is the music. Odd how that works: that the music in a musical biography movie parody is the most surprising part of the film, but there you have it. The songs are brilliant and suited to the time period. These numbers aren’t a slap-shot effort, there’s true artistry in them, like the musical numbers Alf Clausen produces on The Simpsons. Better still the cast is musically talented and believable, especially Reilly since he has to borrow from Cash, Orbison, Dylan, Gibb, Lennon and then older Cash. Lesser filmmakers just would have slapped the numbers together and said, “Meh,” which shows the dedication of those involved that they took things up to professional level.



Walk Hard is a solid effort and a very funny movie. The one thing though is that I think that the last 20 minutes aren’t as sharp as they could have been. The movie kind of peters to a halt, and considering that there was such great energy in the hour and ten minutes prior it was a really noticeable lull. However, I can’t say that I’m disappointed, this is a very good comedy filled with many laugh out loud moments.