Review: "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"

In a nutshell, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is one big parody of the 2006 Johnny Cash biopic “Walk The Line” and the excesses of the music industry.

Is it funny?

Curiously, the mid-afternoon screening I caught was attended by only four people (including me), but I didn’t take that to mean the movie was bad. Only that I had caught it at a bad time. There is no mistaking that certain movies—typically thrillers or bawdy comedies--connect far better with a big audience, creating a rolling emotional vibe that everyone can share. “Walk Hard” is exactly this kind of movie, and as such, I think I would have enjoyed it better with more people around me.

But again, is it funny? Usually, yes.

John C. Reilly (who does his own singing) does a great job as boneheaded crooner Dewey Cox, who uses the tragedy of losing his brother in a childhood machete fight to launch a huge music career, sire dozens of kids, do enough blow to kill a horse, commit bigamy, go to jail, and destroy several bathrooms in a drunken rage. Along the way, Dewey also meets his soul-mate (played by the beautiful Jenna Fischer) only to lose her, and win her back again.

But do the plot details really matter?

Not really, as “Walk Hard” is designed as a self-sustaining, 96-minute engine of drug and sex gags co-written by director Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow – who can’t seem to make an unpopular movie these days (“Superbad,” “Knocked Up,” “The 40 Year-Old Virgin”). And bully for him.

Yet at the risk of repeating myself, I strongly advise seeing “Walk Hard” with a larger audience. In fact, if I could go back and see the movie again for the first time, that’s precisely what I’d do.

I certainly would feel like I got more of my money's worth entertainment-wise, which is hardly a bad thing.