Film Reviews

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

• Rating:
• Director: Jake Kasdan
• Starring: Jack Black
• Details: USA / 96 mins (16)

Essentially a comical parody of Walk the Line, Walk Hard tells the story of washed-up country and western singer Cox (Reilly) who has a flashback of his entire life before a comeback show. Beginning with the accidental halving of a more talented sibling by way of a mock machete fight, all the way through to his experimentation with LSD with The Beatles in India, we bear witness to the trials and tribulations of Dewey's life as he marries twice, has 22 kids, tops the charts and falls from grace. Seemingly channelling Will Ferrell more than Johnny Cash for inspiration, Walk Hard's star John C. Reilly can sure belt out a tune, as well as deliver a line. This is the admired character actor's first real leading role, and he handles it with much aplomb - having obviously picked up a thing or three from his Talladega Nights co-star. Scripter Judd Apatow (who last helmed Knocked Up), along with director Kasdan, clearly saw a lot of comic potential in Walk the Line that few others did, as they offer a barrage of sight gags and amusing one-liners from the get-go. The spoof flick genre has been in something of a lull since Aeroplane, and with the exception of Baseketball, we have had nothing but lazy, laugh-free crap like Epic Movie making our eyes bleed and our wallets yearn. This is a much more successful affair, and although it's not a mole on the ass of the likes of Knocked Up or Superbad, it embraces the ridiculous and instinctively throws in an inspired cameo every time the jokes becomes repetitive. Which does happen quite a lot, especially towards the end when the one-joke set up of mirroring Cash's life stops being funny and the gags come off as lazy recycles. Definitely a flick for those who felt robbed for paying to see a Scary Movie sequel, Walk Hard should also stand up well to repeated viewings on DVD. Hilariously requotable song lyrics, too!

Review by Mike Sheridan