Monday, May 19, 2008
HARD ON DEWEY
Today's movie was the mockumentary
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
There is not one cliché unturned in this rock pile.
The ups, the downs, the sideways. The drugs, the comebacks, the go-aways. The marriages, the friends lost. The reunions. The egos.
We have seen this film over and over with the likes of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles to say nothing of the Buddy Holly Story. The biopic of musical figures has always been around. When I was a kid, we had the films about Glenn Miller (death at the end), Cole Porter (a tragic accident off a horse), Benny Goodman (I forget the angle), and so on up to the actual documentaries of the Beatles and Bob Dylan. It is irresistible material.
John C. Reilly turns in a great performance as the fictional Cox who walks all the musical genrés over 50 years. Incidentally, the musical material is pretty good too.
The success of this very funny film is the absolute seriousness with which Reilly and the other cast members approach the material. It is done straight on. Non-smirk.
I was amused that, at the end, when I had seen all the jokes to bring the sheer corniness of things out in the open, there were still misty eyed moments and a tug at the heart strings as Dewey has a tribute performance and is reunited with his 42 (legitimate) kids. Clichés are very powerful.
Another product rolled off the line at the Judd Apatow fun factory.
I was totally engrossed. Not, incidentally, grossed out. While it was on, Franklin came into the room and John, who had seen it before, shut the door and all. I was oblivious. Sunk into the picture.
I liked it a lot and I wouldn't want to see it again. I am sure that I missed a few jokes here and there but the spell would be broken.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
