Being a subscriber of both satellite radio services, it's entertaining and even a bit enlightening to listen to the progression of music throughout the decades (at least, that is, from the 1940s through today). While the '90s and '00s don't really have a signature sound, the earlier ones do, and it's fun to notice the differences and witness (via one's ears) the natural progression.
That's also been one of the enjoyable elements of watching TV or movie biopics about famous musicians, or at least ones that have lived, performed, and segued from one style to the next over the past half-century or so. Of course, and perhaps the most interesting thing about many of them -- particularly of recent -- is that they seem to tell the same tale, even if they're about different performers.
Accordingly, and while most of the finer details are obviously different, you could almost switch the main characters in, say, "Ray" and "Walk the Line" and still have the same movie. Perhaps there's an unofficial "how to be a musical performer" handbook of which I'm unaware but it doesn't require a tuner to pick up on the fact that Ray Charles and Johnny Cash both had traumatic childhoods, meteoric rises to fame, followed by bouts with booze, drugs, women, infidelity and more, all before rehab, life's hard knocks and some common sense eventually caused them to alter their ways.
Thus the reason for and eventual problem with the musical biopic parody, "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." I'm not sure we actually needed such a film - yet, or even ever -- as there really haven't been enough of them to warrant some sort of wicked satire. Thankfully, this isn't a spoof along the lines of awful dreck such as "Epic Movie" or "The Comebacks" where just the notable highlights of more famous cinematic predecessors are used for intended laughs.
Instead, this film -- advertised as being from the writer who was also responsible for "Superbad" and "Knocked Up" this year -- is more of a standalone piece, somewhat along the lines of "Airplane" or "The Naked Gun" in terms of actually working as a pic without the need to be familiar with the source material to get the jokes.
Unfortunately, it suffers from two big problems. First is its lack of charm, something that's been slip sliding away with each subsequent release attached to writer Judd Apatow. Crude or outrageous material can go a long way as long as it's slathered in charm and/or engaging characters, but little of that precious commodity makes its way onto the screen here.
The bigger issue, however, is that the film really isn't that funny, at least when viewed as a whole. Sure, there are some humorous moments ranging from playing off elements in those previous biopics (such as the early childhood catalysts) to some of the Austin Powers type double entendres visually found in a montage and heard in some of the early song lyrics (particularly the "Let's Duet" duet). And speaking of them, some of the ditties are actually quite catchy, (including the one from which the title is based) even with singing tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Yet, just as they eventually run out of musical and comedic steam as the story progresses, so does the overall film in terms of laughs. The result is a spoof that drives most of its running gags into the ground (the main character ripping sinks out of walls like Johnny Cash, the introduction of new and powerful drugs with the same introductory warning by Sam Meadows' character: "You don't want no part of this sh*t," the father repeatedly telling the son, "The wrong kid died," etc.) and ends up feeling too much like the predecessors rather than a spoof -- loving homage or not -- of them.
While probably not the first vision that would come to anyone's mind when casting the lead for such a film, John C. Reilly is decent in the role, even if the script eventually lets him down. And without the charm to back him up, the character doesn't end up making much of an impression (although the actor certainly gives it his all. The same holds true for parts played by Jenna Fischer as the protagonist's second wife, Raymond J. Barry as his disapproving father, and Meadows as the drug-introducing drummer.
The result is a film that has a few winning and entertaining moments, but ultimately feels like a Will Ferrell comedy and/or a "Saturday Night Live" skit that managed to grow out of control like some movie monster on steroids. Without really being necessary and ultimately running dry in terms of laughs or just creative material, "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" pretty much ends up becoming exactly what it was trying to spoof -- a musical biopic, where the now common genre elements ultimately end up boring rather than entertaining the viewer. The film rates as a 4.5 out of 10.
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