Reviewed by Mark Cappuccio
Stars John C Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Raymond J Barry, Kristen Wiig, Margo Martindale,
Chris Parnell, Matt Besser, David Krumholtz, Harold Ramis | Written by Jake Kasdan & Judd Apatow
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 92 minutes | Directed by Jake Kasdan
Music biopics are often slave to their own formula: flashblacks, montages, voiceovers, a past tragedy to overcome, great success, experimentation with drugs/drink/sex (delete as applicable). So after the serious success of Ray and, more importantly, Walk The Line comes Walk Hard, a ‘mockumentary’ about fictitious country singer and music icon Dewey Cox played brilliantly by John C Reilly, directed by Jake (son of Lawrence) Kasdan and co-written by Judd Apatow of Knocked Up and Superbad fame.
While Walk Hard slavishly follows Walk The Line’s story, mostly aping the life of the great Johnny Cash, along the way it takes swipes at Ray, The Beatles and even Bob Dylan. It's clichéd, stereotypical and unoriginal but, despite this, it's pants-wettingly funny, as it openly mocks the biopic genre by using all the same filmmaking techniques and ideas but with added jokes and sight gags. It's all held together by Reilly who seems to be loving every minute and turns in a great performance as the ‘fake' Cash.
Cox experiences a tragic childhood incident involving the death of his brother, and the reaction of Cox’s dad (Barry) is milked again and again but never stops being funny. The film does add its own original ideas though, especially in a standout scene where Cox goes to India to ‘find’ himself and meets The Beatles in a guru’s tent. These cameos almost steal the entire film, and are followed by a brilliant Yellow Submarine-esque acid trip. Reilly is great as Cox, all simple smiles and looks and so easily led. Fischer is fabulous as Darlene Madison, Cox’s backing singer and eventual wife, and easily holds her own against the film's madness. Apatow and Kasdan have crafted a clever script, in places silly and juvenile but witty and knowing enough to hit all the right references and high notes. This is something to go out and guiltily enjoy with mates and a beer and yes, it does walk the line very hard indeed. A silly, funny and stupid film but one that is going to make a lot of people laugh.
EXTRAS *** Commentary track with Kasdan, Reilly, Apatow and a guy called Lew Morton, who is a producer and writer on Futurama, so we have no idea what he's doing here. Maybe he was just walking past the studio on the day they were recording? Anway, you also get full song performances, deleted and exteneded scenes and featurettes on the music and the real Dewey Cox.