Walk Hard Review
Fans of Judd Apatow may be disappointed by this slight and not-quite-as-funny-as- it-should-have-been spoof of Walk The Line, Ray and a million other musical biopics. After killing his brother in a terrible accident, young Dewey Cox (Reilly) is determined to fill his place and make his meanspirited and curmudgeonly father proud. Dewey learns to sing and play the guitar, and his music is soon topping the charts. His child-bride (Wiig), tiring of Dewey being constantly on the road, realising that he has been unfaithful with backing singer Darlene (Fischer), and finding a giraffe no compensation, leaves him and Dewey turns to drugs.
And then kicks them.
And then gets into them again.
And then kicks them again.
On his journey he meets most of rock and roll’s greats, including Elvis and The Beatles, marries three times, sleeps with lots of women, sacks his band, stars in his own variety show. All, in theory, great material for an Airplane! or Top Secret style spoof, full of sight gags and ridiculous naughtiness. And there are some laughs, yet it all feels a bit lacklustre. One reason must be Reilly – despite being a dead ringer for Will Ferrell, and even stealing his classic running through the street in his underpants move – a little of him goes a long way. And director Jake Kasdan just doesn’t seem to know when to call a halt to a scene. The Beatles cameo is funny to start with, but then it just drags on and Jack Black, dearly though I love him, cannot do an English accent to save his life.
Jenna Fischer, most recently seen in Blades of Glory, is fabulous, and someone ought to give her her own film. But anyone expecting the kind of belly laughs and wickedly sharp humour of Superbad and Knocked Up is likely to be a bit miffed.
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