Monday, January 23, 2012

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)


Director: Jake Kasdan

Starring: John C. Reilly, Tim Meadows, Kristen Wiig, Jenna Fischer, Matt Besser, Chris Parnell

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Life made him tough. Love made him strong. Music made him hard.

Plot: The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox, whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 36 kids, 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 - longtime backup singer Darlene.



My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

I've been a big fan of John C. Riley's for probably twenty years and I was thrilled to see him to finally star in a big budget comedy because he's a really funny guy. I was also worried that it was going to be along the lines of the typical lame Will Ferrell comedies that man keeps cranking out. Fortunately it's not and it's a genuinely great satire of the popular music industry that feels very much Monty Python-esque in that the humor is literally all over the place from silly slapstick to biting, intelligent satire. The performances are great with Riley as the standout, the script is clever and doesn't always go for the obvious (huge points there) and the songs are catchy and spot on for hitting their targets. WALK HARD might not be a home run but it's a great film that hit most of what it was aiming for. Besides, with lyrics like "In my dreams you're blowin' me...some kisses." Ahahahahahaha.

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