John C. Reilly stars as Dewey Cox. Reilly has proven a stellar supporting player in films such as
Chicago, Magnolia, Boogie Nights and
The Gangs of New York . While he's always been good, he's also displayed a slightly bland quality that made be wonder if he was leading man material and could carry a whole film. And the answer I found in
Walk Hard is that he can.
John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox (Columbia)
As Dewey Cox, Reilly understands that the key is sincerity. Act as though this is Walk the Line or Ray , and you are playing Johnny Cash or Ray Charles. In fact, that's what makes the film as a whole work, director and co-writer Jake Kasdan plays it straight but knows how absolutely silly the whole thing is. Tone is crucial here and Kasdan (who directed the indie comedy Orange County ) and co-writer Judd Apatow (who already this year wrote and directed Knocked Up and produced Superbad ) manage a good balance, delivering silly and often crude comedy combined with sincere performances and a sense of smart craft.
The film opens backstage before a big career-capping performance. Dewey, alone and silhouetted, is about to go on. The nervous stage manager seeks him out and reminds him that its two-minutes until he goes on. To which a fellow band member says, Dewey has to think about his entire life before he plays. Cue the flashback! We find young Dewey and his brother on a golden hued, idyllic farm. But of course a childhood tragedy awaits his perfect and obviously more talented brother. Sure enough, after tempting fate by playing with rattlers, bulls and tractors, Dewey slices his bro in half when they have a playful machete fight. I'm cut in half pretty bad, wails his brother before urging Dewey to go and make something of himself. The tragedy prompts the running gag of having the dad continually wail that the wrong kid died and the guilt causes Dewey to go smell-blind.
Merry Christmas Cox Style (Columbia)
From here, the film tackles every clich know to the music pic bio and does so in swift, entertaining style. Plus Kasdan and Apatow know the genre that they spoof. They are well versed in the format, formula, clichs and traditions so that they hit all the familiar elements with dead on accuracy. Whether its about bad marriages, drug addiction, rehab or cutting that first magical hit they hit the familiar notes with clever accuracy. Another key to their success is they keep things moving fast. Each scene hits a gag and then moves on. There's not really a plot so much as a timeline of music biopic events that need to be addressed.
The production design by Jefferson Page and costumes by Debra McGuire are impeccable, capturing each musical era and style with a mix of accuracy and goofy exaggeration. The music serves up parodies that are also good songs, songs that would be fun to listen to after the movie. The reason for this is that Kasdan and Apatow went to successful musicians and performers to collaborate on the soundtrack. People like Marshall Crenshaw, Van Dyke Parks, and the team of Dan Bern and Mike Viola, who composed most of the music in the movie. As with Christopher Guest's This is Spinal Tap , Walk Hard's soundtrack album can hold up on its own because the songs are both funny and musically solid. Plus Reilly, who sang in Chicago , possesses a good voice, and is called upon to spoof a variety of styles. He also serves up his own version of Bob Dylan in a year where we've seen s quite a few others.
The Fab Four: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman and Justin Long (Colombia)
What's also fun are some of the inside music references and jokes. It's fun to see Jack White play a karate chopping Elvis. Or to see the just rehabbed Dewey about to be lured back to drugs and running into a band backstage and yelling Oh the Temptations. One of the funniest sequences involves meeting the Beatles at the Maharishi's pad. With Jack Black as Paul, Paul Rudd as John, Jason Schwartzman as Ringo and Justin Long as George, the film plays on all the rumors about the Fab Four to deliver a hilarious scene of bickering and brawling.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language) is not as inspired nor as clever as Guest's This is Spinal Tap (which remains the pinnacle of spoofdom) or Eric Idle's The Rutles: All You Need is Cash but it's breezily entertaining. It knows it's silly and frivolous yet the filmmakers still put in serious work to make the gags play. There's no message here, no subtext, just a goofy good time. Although some have mentioned that this film is aiming for the same young crowd as Superbad , I think the audience skews older, to people who grew up with Buddy Holly, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. And don't leave before the credits are over because there's a nice final gag at the very end of the film.
As a side note, this is the second film this year from someone who grew up on his father's sets. Jason Reitman ( Juno ) and Jake Kasdan are just three years apart and have followed their dads into the film industry. Jason made his first on-set appearance at a mere eleven-days-old on his dad Ivan Reitman's Animal House . Meanwhile a pre-teen Jake Kasdan started appearing in such films as The Big Chill and Silverado , directed by his dad Lawrence Kasdan's films. It looks like these boys are making their dads proud this holiday season.
Companion viewing: This is Spinal Tap, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, Jailhouse Rock, Im Not There, A Mighty Wind
