Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) User Reviews (250)

The Wrong Movie Bombed

[WriterDave · 8/10 · 28 December 2007]

When young Dewey Cox accidentally cuts his brother in half with a machete, it sets him on a long, hard, and winding road that traverses the most profoundly important moments in modern music history spanning the 1950's to today. "Walk Hard" was erroneously advertised as yet another comedic romp from Judd Apatow. While as the co-screenwriter here many of Apatow's trademarks can be found including the usual sophomoric sexual humor and ironic pop-culture references, "The Dewey Cox Story" is actually closer in spirit to the mocumentaries of Christopher Guest ("This is Spinal Tap!" and "Best in Show") as channeled through the spastic colon of the "Naked Gun" films.

This is a parody played hilariously straight. The target of its mockery is so succinct and sharply pointed--the recent Oscar-winning musical biopics "Ray" and "Walk the Line"--that the film's true comedic genius may be lost on people who didn't really pay attention to those films or thought this would just be another "Superbad." The film's mimesis of its source materials is so spot-on, that it even follows their same cadence and nearly falls apart midway as it glosses over many points in history and aspects of the musician's life while covering every cliché possible from the temptations of life on the road with drugs and groupies to bouts in rehab and bitter divorces to long dry periods that suddenly make way for life-altering inspiration.

At the center of "Walk Hard" is John C. Reilly who sings and acts his heart out to hilarious effect. A former Oscar nominee for "Chicago", Reilly has since cut a niche for himself as the second banana to bigger comedy stars like Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights" and for the first time gets a film to call his own. Tim Meadows is shockingly funny as the friend who ushers in Cox's decent into drug use (his overly accentuated but still deadpan line deliveries are priceless), while Jenna Fishcher is sprite and lovely as the June Carter cutie to Cox's Johnny Cash wannabee. Other SNL players including Kristin Wiig and Chris Parnell and Apatow alumni like Paul Rudd (as John Lennon!) and Jonah Hill pop in and out of the film amidst an onslaught of funny sight-gags and one-liners. Also in on the fun is a cavalcade of current music stars including the lead singer of the White Stipes as Elvis and Eddie Vedder as himself doing a nonsensical quasi-spiritual riff on Cox's legacy while presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The heart of "Walk Hard" is in the music. If you were to not listen so closely, you might be fooled into thinking these were actual hit songs from their respective time periods. Of course, listening to the lyrics is part of the fun. The ridiculously silly double-entendres in Cox's duet with his honey-to-be Darlene are especially funny, while I personally found their spoof of a Bob Dylan song to be downright brilliant. Since the writers took the time to be so verbose and intricate with their nonsensical free-form versing, they allowed the bit to work on multiple levels as both an homage and a biting jab at Dylan's alleged lyrical genius.

Utimately "Walk Hard", in ways both monumentally stupid and unfathomably smart, proves to be almost too clever for its own good. It may have bombed in it's first-run at the box office, but I would imagine it will eventually find its audience. In one pivotal early scene Cox begs his wife to believe in him and his dreams of becoming a successful singer. She replies something to the effect of, "Oh, baby, I do. I just believe you're gonna fail." I couldn't have said it better myself, and it still has me laughing.

Hysterical and Clever movie!

[SourGreenapple42 · 8/10 · 26 December 2007]

"Walk Hard" is a clever parody of the life of a rock-star, and bio-pics such as "Walk the line", "Ray" and "La Bamba". It follows the formula nearly perfectly, and follows fake rock-star legend Dewey Cox (and yes, they do have plenty of puns with his name, but this is to be expected) through his life in the 50's, 60's, 70's and into today.

The surprise of "Walk Hard" is that although it was written by the guys who made "Superbad" and "Knocked Up", and has the "formula spoof" similar to "Scary Movie" and "Epic Movie", this film manages to be quite intelligent, and manages to avoid overly gross out humor. While it has its share of gross out and slapstick gags, it isn't completely idiotic, while movies such as "Epic Movie" or "Talladega Nights" tend to be totally moronic and disgusting. The humor here is very observational, self-parodying, ironic, surreal, dark and often hysterical.

The reason why "Walk Hard" works well is because of its somewhat wicked sense of humor. It manages to ironically "overdue" the jokes to the point that you can see the actual funny part is that it is being overdone and over-the-top. It self implies that something is going to go bad, and makes the audience clearly see what path the scene is heading towards, which is also another part of its sense of humor.

The performances are very good as well. John Reilly plays Dewey very well, and his naive but good natured persona often plays out hysterically in contrast to a society often attempting to harm him. His character does lack some substance and emotional depth, though this is to be expected in the humorous nature of the film, and is the writing, not the acting. He plays the role from ages 14 to 71, and the goofy age difference between Reilly and how old of a character he is playing is another one of the film's ironic self-aware quirky jokes, in which he constantly reminds us of his age throughout the film so we can see this, as well as the purposely awkward looking make-up.

Jenna Fischer is great as his love interest and duet partner, a parody of Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line", who falls on and off for Dewey throughout the movie based on his life decisions, another movie formula cliché. Tim Meadows is hysterical as Cox' drug-addict drummer and long time friend, with all of his lines being in a tongue-in-cheek and smart-ass manner, and a hysterical repetition of scenes where he introduces Cox to drugs.

All in all, the only problem with this movie is that it is quite uneven. The movie seems to spend a large time dealing with Dewey's life in the 50's, not spending much time in the 60's, 70's or 90's, and spending no time in the 80's. It jumps into his problem a bit fast and doesn't go into depth into some areas of his life as much as others.

However, despite being somewhat uneven, "Walk Hard" remains a very entertaining, very funny, and witty movie. It is quite tragic that this opening weekend went up against the liking of nearly 4 very popular movies, resulting in a box office failure of this film. Hopefully next week, or in the future to come, this gem of a comedy (A rare thing in 2007), can be seen and gain a reputation among others.

Dewey Cox: Riley makes him real

[javaman-7 · 7/10 · 25 April 2008]

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (rated R). Directed by Jake Kasden. Written by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasden. Starring John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Raymond J. Berry, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Harold Ramis & Chris Parnell. Running Time: 96 minutes. Originally appeared in LakewoodBuzz.com.

OVERVIEW:

Like the film Ray (2004), a young boy and his brother frolic in the bucolic wonderland of the American South of the 1930s. Like Walk the Line (2005), a young man leaves his loving mother and hateful father to find solace in his music. Like... well, you get the idea. This film is primarily a send-up of the musical bio-pic, as Dewey Cox (Riley) channels nearly every rock icon that ever took the stage... from Dylan, Cash, Orbison, and Presley to Brian Wilson. Like his fellow rock stars, Dewey is often tempted by drugs and sex. In a hilarious motif, he is constantly opening a door and finding his drummer, Sam (Meadows), behind it with sexy backup singers and the latest drug of choice. "You don't want any part of this s**t," Sam says, and proceeds to tell Dewey all of the drug's benefits. Despite their wayward ways, Dewey and his band are discovered by a trio of Hasidic Jews and begin to record a remarkable string of number-one hits. As he cruises the decades like Forrest Gump with a guitar, Dewey meets all of his legendary contemporaries, played by uncredited actors you are likely to recognize. Watch especially for Lennon, McCartney and Buddy Holly.

REVIEW: 3 out of 4 Java Mugs

What is remarkable about this movie is the way we feel about the main character, Dewey Cox. It's easy to find sympathy for the likes of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles because we knew them as real people. But why do we feel so strongly about a singer we know does not really exist? Some of the credit goes to the filmmakers, who know which emotional buttons to push, but mostly we have Riley to thank. In an amazing portrayal, he takes what could have been a spoof-worthy sap and turns him into a fully developed character we really care about. Riley actually becomes Dewey Cox, by singing his heart out and even helping to write many of the film's songs.

Other performances are also worthy of note, particularly Fischer's sultry Darlene, Wiig's ever-pregnant Edith and Meadows' drug-addled drummer.

Though Riley's singing is quite good, it is still nice to have the likes of Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Jewel, Ghostface Killah and Eddie Vedder playing themselves and singing those Dewey Cox originals. But none of the music was as brilliant as an early scene with Honeyboy Edwards singing the blues.

Strangely funny

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 7/10 · 4 January 2008]

When I first saw the trailer to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, I didn't think much of it other than "Oh, great, another Knocked Up wanna be", it just seems like they won't stop with these over the top comedies. But my friend and I decided to see it the other night and I have to admit, I really did laugh. I'm almost scared to say that the creators of the Superbad, Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin are doing a great job in the comedy genre. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is stupid humor, but it's definitely a need in our lives when it comes to films where we don't have to think but just enjoy. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story takes a joke at the big Oscar winning biographies like Walk the Line and Ray. Some of the humor is a little out there, but works like in the days of Airplane! The story is a lot of fun to watch though.

Dewey Cox is an inspiring musician with a soulful voice and the history of the blues. He is trying to do double good in his life since he accidentally macheted his brother in half. He goes on to make huge hits in life, but is constantly accused of making the "devil's music". But through his success, he finds a beautiful duet singer, Darlene and makes her his wife. But he goes through the life struggle of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. He learns the true meaning of life and must deal with the fact that he can't smell anything, but in the end learns more about his 22 kids.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is silly, but it's all in good fun. I have to admit that I am glad that I saw it, as stupid as it was at times, like I said, we all need those brainless comedies. I'm sure once people give Walk Hard a better chance when it comes out on rent, somewhere down the line this will be a classic. I mean, come on! It had Jack Black as one of the Beatles in the film! OK, I know that it sounds stupid, but believe me, it's funny. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a fun comedy that I would recommend to see, you'll get a few good laughs out of it.

7/10

Cal Naughton Jr. no longer finishing second

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 15 June 2008]

Oh yes this movie was funny. I didn't have many expectations, if any, of this movie, but it certainly delivered. I knew from the trailers and ads that the movie was going to parallel if not parody "Walk the Line", but there were also several references to "Ray". I would say one of the funniest references to "Ray" was Dewey Cox losing his sense of smell.

Initially it looked like the movie would be very cheesy with punchlines being telegraphed well ahead of time. But, even with the punchlines being blatantly set up, it was better to go with the transparent set up instead of the thinly veiled set ups that a lot of comedies use.

Interestingly enough there was not much profanity which made its usage that much funnier. Now, I certainly could've done without the male nudity, but maybe that was only in the unrated version. Even still, by and large John C. Reily held his own and the movie was terrific.

Watching it again and again.

[ThomDerd · 10/10 · 12 July 2020]

Absolutely hilarious film. It might be the best parody-music biopic ever made, with amazing talent, excellent music and great, funny lines. Rewatch-ability is high. There are so many jokes in there and so much good music and acting, which make me wonder how come this film was not more popular back then. John C Reily is a multitalented actor and a great comedian overall and carries this film right from the start. I guess that some folks didn't like the walk-the-line Johnny Cash film parody moments and that maybe got the film some negative comments. Reily however does a great deal of respect to the artist and furthermore he sings on each track with his own amazing voice. Impressive, heartful and hilarious! Walk Hard. 10/10.

Lots Of Laughs, Entertaining But Another Crude Comedy

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 21 May 2009]

I got a lot of laughs out of this film but I warn those that his another modern-day crude comedy. It's definitely not "family viewing." It's a parody on "Walk The Line," the biography of Johnny Cash with John C. Reilly playing the famous singer. He is extremely funny in this role but the humor is the absurd, dark variety.....so be ready for that!

It's really a parody of the rock 'n roll/folk/psychedelic scene, more than anything, from the beginnings in the mid 50s up to the present. The majority of the film deals with the late '50s and up to the '70s. You get a lot of "digs" at folk singers, Bob Dylan and then The Beatles. It's pretty innocent and very funny. The lyrics to songs are hilarious. You also get a lot jibes as Cash and his relationship with his girlfriend-then-wife, June Carter. That latter is played by a pretty and very sexy Jenna Fisher.

What isn't innocent are the sex, drugs and adultery jokes. Some of them are funny; some are way too silly or just plain crude and unnecessary....but that's comedies of today. I mean, we don't need to see repeated shots of a guy's penis, do we? Actually, the film only goes way overboard, language-and sex-wise, in the last 30 minutes when a bunch of f-bombs are yelled out and the story goes into the sewer....before coming out with a nice, sentimental ending. I guess that was supposed to make up for the all the sleaze. It didn't; but it still was an entertaining film which flew by.

One last thing: the music in here is excellent. Some think it's the best part of the film.

possibly best comedy ever

[lcalloway01 · 10/10 · 15 December 2009]

I've watched this movie around 50 times. Literally one of the funniest movies ever made. It would be great if it was a movie that kids could enjoy as well, but that is my only complaint. 100% adult themes and shows way too much for a responsible parent to allow children to watch.

When I was a kid we had Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Porky's. This is a hilarious movie, and I suggest watching it repeatedly since there will be a lot of things you will catch and fall over laughing at if you understand the movie at all. John C Reilly comes into a class A acting role with this one. And deserves it.

Great music as well as amazing acting. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. Love it.

Walk Hard, Hard. Down life's rocky road. Walk bold, hard. That's my creed, my code. Walk Hard is a funny tongue-in-cheek movie, worth checking out.

[ironhorse_iv · 6/10 · 22 July 2016]

Considering how bad, the parody genre has gotten as of late. I was blown away by how good this movie was. It's so good, that somewhat belongs in the same levels of filmmakers: David Zucker, Monty Python and Mel Brooks's finest works. Directed by Jake Kasdan, and written and produced by Judd Apatow. 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story' tells the story of the hard-knock life of musician Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) from his rags-to-riches beginnings, his raise as a megastar country star, his struggle with drug abuse, and his redemption in his later life with his later-wife, Darlene Madison (Jenna Fischer). If this story sounds very familiar. The plot echoes the storyline of 2005's Johnny Cash biopic, 'Walk the Line' and 2004's Ray Charles biopic 'Ray'. While, Walk Hard mostly heavily references, those two films, there were also a various amounts of other biopics that the film used as inspiration, such as 2004's 'Beyond the Sea', about singer, Bobby Darin and 2007's 'I'm not There' about musician, Bob Dylan to name some. The film also includes elements of the lives and careers of Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Donovan, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Conway Twitty, Neil Diamond, and Brian Wilson. The film portrays fictional versions of artists Buddy Holly (Frankie Muntz), The Big Bopper (John Ennis), Elvis Presley (Jack White) and the Beatles: Paul McCarthy (Jack Black), George Harrison (Justin Long), John Lennon (Paul Rudd), and Ringo Starr (Jason Schwartzman). Additionally, some real-life artists were filmed, playing themselves, including Eddie Vedder, Jewel Kicher, Lyle Lovett and Ghostface Killah. In addition, the film feature several musical styles such as the late 1950's R&B movement, the early 1960's California Sound, the late 1960s Vietnam War Protest Folk-music style, the early 1970s, Space Oddity and last 1970s punk rock movement. Despite the humorous approach to the music genre, the film was so well crafted, that the parody music feature for the films became big hits on their own right. Songs like 'Walk Hard', 'Take my Hand', 'Guilty as charged', "Let's Duet' & others was nominated for both a Grammy and Golden Globe Award. Songwriter, Michael Andrews and Jon Reilly recorded 40 original songs, which 33 are featured in the movie. All with different music styles. That's pretty impressed. Not only that, but John Reilly sang most of the song. Who knew that John Reilly, not only was a gifted comedian, but also an amazing singer!? I didn't see it, coming. However, Singer Angela Correa did had to provide the voice of Darlene Madison Cox as Jenna couldn't pull it off. Despite that, she did pretty well for the role, that she was given. Honestly, most of the actors in this film, were funny in their own right. As a biopic parody, the movie is very funny. It hit every funny bone for me. Very few misses. If the movie had any faults; I can say, the later unrated version is very disappointing. Adding more juvenile gratuitous nudity and gross sight toilet humor doesn't really make your movie, any better. It's not fan service that most people want to see. Even women and gay people might think it's too much. Also, some of the jokes were a bit tasteless like the whole kid getting killed by a machete fight. Making fun of Johnny Cash's real-life boyhood tragedy is a bit much. It's somewhat offensive. It's shock value that really fails to gain any point of reaction than annoyed. It really doesn't add much to the film that the semi-smart dialogue double sexual entendres hasn't done better. If anything, it just makes the film plot go slower. It's no wonder, Sony felt like to cut over twenty four minutes out of the original film, when it was released. It really did make the film, seem way too long. In my opinion, just go see, the original version over this. Other negative elements of this film is how the movie doesn't really bring anything new to the table. The movie relates way too much on being clichés to be, really that funny. It felt a bit tiresome at parts, because it's predictable. It's so unlike the other comedy music films like 2003's 'A Mighty Wind' or 1984's 'This is Spiral Tap' that relies on some music movie clichés, but also brings something new to the genre to work with. Those films were a little more sophistical with its humor. You really don't know, what's going to happen in those films. Overall: Because of that, I felt like 'Walk Hard' could had been something, really great, but in the end, falls somewhere near above average. Still, I can highly recommended, seeing this film.

First Half Funny, Second Half Terrible

[nafps · 5/10 · 3 April 2022]

There's reason this film bombed when it came out. It starts off strong, a skewering of Walk the Line.

But they obviously ran out of material and desperately threw together anything they could come up with. The second half is just awful. What doesn't work:

Lame Beatles jokes.

Lame Beach Boys jokes.

Lame Dylan jokes.

Lame protest song and hippie jokes.

All of them were uninspired, predictable, and unfunny.

At the 45 minute mark, fast forward to the last 5 minutes.

Bring on the parody

[VetteRanger · 9/10 · 8 June 2009]

And if there is a musical genre out there short of orchestral symphony, it gets sent up by this wonderful comedy.

Not a movie for the kiddies by a long shot, but if you are familiar with music artists from the 50s on, and especially if you lived through those periods of time, the parody of styles and stars will leave you with sore sides from laughing.

Make sure to listen closely to every lyric. They don't miss a chance to make jokes subtle or broad, and they don't take it easy on anyone.

Songs in the credits are just as funny as songs through the body of the movie, so make sure to wait around for those rather than switching off after the story itself fades to black.

A personal favorite of mine are the scenes where Dewey discovers new drugs. Although I've never taken drugs, even smoked marijuana, these scenes were just too funny to be offensive, especially the first discussion of the weed just named.

Be in the mood to watch a comedy, especially for a parody of this type. If you can't really pay attention, you won't get everything, and will just think the movie crude. Also, if you're really stuck up about what's in your comedy, then you may not like this movie.

If you're up for it, you'll die laughing.

Starts off brilliant, but dries up

[charchuk · 7/10 · 8 January 2008]

Yeah, I really loved its absurdist humour a lot of the time, but it really dries up by the end and I really didn't find myself laughing as much as I did at the beginning of the film. About the time the film starts jumping ahead in time really dramatically, it starts losing its funny, and the end jokes nearly all fall flat. The musical numbers are terrific, though, simultaneously being hilarious while also being honest-to-goodness great songs in their own right. The Let's Duet montage is brill. And, of course, there's the wonderfully random stuff, like John C. Reilly playing himself at age 14, or the mockingly melodramatic acting of Tim Meadows and Jenna Fischer, or the shocking full-frontal male nudity, which is so obviously an attempt to receive surprise laughter that it's a pretty fantastic joke. If only the film had sustained its momentum, it could have been one of the best comedies of the year.

A Blight on Apatow's near flawless record

[igooglemyself · 1/10 · 26 December 2007]

I gave Walk Hard a chance, I really did. I love Judd Apatow's work, as producer, writer or director. Knocked Up is one of my favorite comedies and Superbad is up there on the list. Orange County, directed by the director of Cox, was a decent film but wasn't great. But still, it had it's moments and was watchable. Normally, I can base a movies value on the names associated with it and their previous work , in fact that's the main reason I saw this movie. But sadly, it doesn't live up to anything they have been associated with prior (maybe Kicking and Screaming).

To start, I'll list the things that are good about the movie: The directing has a certain quality to it. Considering the director's previous work, I guess that makes sense.

It's not too far from a shot for shot remake of Walk The Line. Which I count as a good thing because that's what your going for in a spoof/parody.

They did a good job with the bio-pic aspect of it, which just means that they can see the humor in the constant ups and downs of a rock star's life.

Some, and I mean SOME, of the lines are good. I did chuckle and the Elvis part.

Now the bad: The first line of the movie is "I need Cox", I a movie were the main character, not just that but the movie, is named Dewey Cox, you can really only use that once. But they do it again and again.

The movie fools you into thinking it's a Jim Abrahams/David Zucker spoof (creators of cult comedies like Airplane!, Hot Shots! Top Secret! and Naked Gun) but becomes a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer spoof (creator of such Oscar worthy masterpieces as Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, Date Movie, Epic Movie and the upcoming, and sure to be critical success, Meet The Spartans).

There's a monkey joke, enough said about that.

A poor representation of famous individuals, like Buddy Holly, Elvis, and the Beatles. If Buddy Holly has to tell me that he's Buddy Holly it's a bad movie. Even Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett and Eddie Vedder are caricature of themselves. Basically the movie goes for the, "haha they are people pretending to be these people and they are doing it badly!That's funny!". As I mentioned before, Elvis was the only good one because I could see Elvis doing the "look out man!" thing, but even that gets ruined by a line that follows it that is basically "Only two kinds of people know it(referring to Karate), the Chinese and the King. And I'm the King." We get it you're Elvis Presley.

A monkey joke, it needs repeating, monkey jokes died in middle school.

The pacing of the movie interrupt scenes that could be used for character development and story to give you scenes feigning what could be considered important story points. It completely negates the scene prior. Example, Dewey Cox is in a hotel room living it up after his first taste of weed, he is on the phone with his wife. She begins to tell him that she feels a distance. Now normally, a Knocked Up type comedy would use this moment to bring down the fun for a moment. Use it to give us a real insight into the relationship of the characters, thus creating a more interesting level to any involvement later on. An Airplane type comedy would use this moment to do constant sight gags, or create a fake sense of pain increasing any sort of visual of audible humor later on. But instead it goes a complete different route when there's a knock the door. He hangs up and there is no development of his relationship with his wife or any really funny sight gags or quick quips. Instead we are treated to a story from Dewey's dad about how Dewey's music inadvertently killed his mom. Oh dear, his mom is dead due to his music. How plausible. That's not funny, that's Epic Movie. I shouldn't have expected more from a movie that has a little kid being chopped in half and still talking, with his legs just standing there. The whole thing leaves me confused as to what this movie wants me to find humorous.

I fail to see the humor in this movie, an occasional chuckle and smirk does not make this movie worthy of viewing. It could have been a lot better. Less irony and more funny. Airplane!, Naked Gun, Top Secret!, that's how this movie should have been. An Abrahams/Zucker-type movie making fun of bio-pics done by Apatow and Kasdan, that would be magic. But instead we are treated to a movie that suffers from schizophrenia, it's backed the names behind good comedies like Orange County and Knocked Up, It's titled like a Will Ferrel "Insert title: the story of insert guy's name" movie with none of the humor, it has the premise of an Abrahams/Zucker film, but is written like a Friedberg/Seltzer. The whole comes off as messy and leaving you feeling unfulfilled. Save your money and rent Apatow's back catalog and hope and pray that the train of suck that left Dewey Cox will derail and Apatow will be cool again. I think Kasdan might be lost though.

A solid parody, but over-produced and over-the-top

[Movie_Muse_Reviews · 6/10 · 24 April 2008]

Apatow Productions had a terrific 2007 and then "Walk Hard" happened. At least they know it--$35 M budget and a total gross of less than $20 M. While the musical biopic parody is an idea that certainly among other parody options is fitting for this decade, Apatow productions learned that success will come with originality. That and not to a release a film like this at Christmas time.

"Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" stars John C. Reilly in an hour and a half romp through his life as a musician beginning in the 1950s. Spoofing all other music biopics, Cox finds his way into love affairs, drugs and much much more. A lot of the parody jokes get overplayed and redundant, but some are definitely spot on. It definitely feels like an Apatow script, only this time with director/writer and friend of Apatow's Jake Kasden getting his say.

"Walk Hard" is star-studded. There are an unbelievable amount of cameos from Apatow's trademark crew as well as stars from Saturday Night Live and others not usually in his movies that make an appearance in the film. The amount of familiar faces makes the film seem incredibly over-produced and some of the shortest scenes appear to have an unnecessary amount of money put into them.

The film does have more humor in many respects than "Talladega Nights," but by no means comes close to matching up with "Knocked Up" and "Superbad." While those two films are somewhat more poignant and true-to-life, "Walk Hard" relies excessively on ridiculousness to be funny, more so than any of the Apatow predecessors.

In short, "Walk Hard" is funny and at times clever, but mostly just over-the-top and dumb. Every turn is a left turn and while many are applaudable, some are just downright weird.

Wait and see

[kdcndw · 7/10 · 31 January 2008]

I just got back from round two with this film. "Walk Hard' the second go around made me laugh, but alas I don't think it is a comedy classic. It is however very funny especially if you know your rock music history and have seen a fair amount of music biopics.

Director Jake Kasdan continues his streak of making films that seem to be made for me, ie The Zero Effect and The T.V. Set (except Orange County which just sucked) Kasdan, bless his soul, isn't interested in making comedies that appeal to a broad audience. I find his movies very refreshing and pretty darn witty. Walk Hard continues the tradition. This time however, he does have Judd Apatow helping out. So "Walk Hard" is rife with all sorts of lowbrow humour as well. All of it is pretty funny. The film has lulls, but in this day and age of lazy spoofs like "Scary Movie" I can forgive them.

John C. Reilly nails this performance. He plays the movie silly (it is a very silly movie) yet his character still feels pretty genuine.

That genuine aspect probably makes the movie work for me. The songs are good. Kasdan and Apatow obviously have a love for the material. It's good that contemporary film makers are taking cues from Brooks and the Zucker brothers and showing a lot of love for the material while spoofing it. Something that other spoof movies fail at miserably.

So all in all...if you are a fan of all sorts of music.. Beatles to Beach Boys to Punk Rock...you just gotta see this movie

For everyone else...still pretty darn funny end kdc

Deserves so much more recognition

[liskula-01161 · 9/10 · 4 April 2018]

Very surprised to see the IMDB rating for this one. It definitely deserves a higher score. The humour is often crude might not be everyone's cup of tea but you can easily compare it other movies in a similar over the top comedy-type genre like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step-Brothers etc. This one in my opinion is the best one out of all them. There were a few jokes that didn't land as great as they could but overall, this is was a non stop laugh out loud movie for me and all the people I have ever watched it with.

-John C Reilly's performance is amazing. Despite the fact that his character is unimaginably out of touch with the world surrounding him, he makes it look so believable. He is the perfect fit for this type of character and you can see, he put a lot of improv in the scenes and made it his own thing.

-The pacing of the movie is great. Its very clever in the way it depicts the cliches of music biography movies. It heavily underlines all the overused motifs in the genre (the neglecting father, the wife/lover perturbations, addiction to fame and money) but but makes them very genuine, in a way that the viewer doesn't get detached from the Dewie's story. -And the biggest star of the movie: The music. The songs are great, they're funny, catchy and really well performed. Each song captures the essence of its times and pushes the story forward. I would dare to say they could easily hang with some of the biggest scores from Hollywood musicals. This why this movie works so much better than the more recent "Popstar" with Adam Sandberg, which made a similar effort in mocking the perks of being a music star. In that movie, the songs are well written and funny, but never seem like the real deal. In "Walk Hard", you can actually see how the songs could be hits in the movie's universe. All of them have great replay value and make the movie very rewatchable. There's the career breaking song, the falling out of fame song, even a Bob Dylan parody witch is hilarious. Its just a clever and enjoyable commentary on the history of music.

All in all you should just watch it, if you haven't. I often skip movies if I see a lower than 7 rating on IMDB. You should not skip this one if you enjoy other Jud Apatow style comedies. Even if you've never been a fan of them, this one might change that!

Worth seeing for Reilly's fine performance in the lead.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 8 April 2012]

From Judd Apatow and company comes this certainly very likable movie that parodies standard Hollywood biographies of musical entertainers, taking particular aim at "Walk the Line" and "Ray" but also working as a skewering of changing musical trends over the decades, as its lead character Dewey Cox (an endearing John C. Reilly) is more than willing to move from one genre to another, and basically do whatever it takes to keep up the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

Dewey Cox has had to deal with a tragic childhood incident which earned him the enmity of his father (Raymond J. Barry). The movie charts Dewey's progress over the years, as he ascends to stardom, becomes addicted to all manner of drugs, antagonizes the people in his life, and ultimately realizes what's truly important and puts his life back together.

The Apatow style of comedy is evident as always, alternating between sweet and poignant moments and very adult moments - there's even some nudity. Sometimes it gets a little silly - such as the animated LSD trip sequence - but mostly it's an enjoyable movie that goes far on the abilities of its cast. Reilly, who does his own singing, is well supported by Kristen Wiig as his first wife, Jenna Fischer as the backup singer who becomes his second wife (while he's still married to the first one), Matt Besser and former 'SNL' cast members Tim Meadows & Chris Parnell as his bandmates, and Barry & Margo Martindale as his parents. There are a lot of fun bits along the way, from the likes of Rance Howard, Craig Robinson, Harold Ramis, Jack McBrayer, Ed Helms, Gerry Bednob, David Krumholtz, Jane Lynch, and Simon Helberg. Particularly funny is the stunt casting of people like Frankie Muniz, as Buddy Holly, and Justin Long, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman, and Jack Black as the Beatles! Nice cameos by real life music stars are a treat, as well.

There are enough laugh out loud moments to make all of this pleasant enough (at least this never gets truly mean spirited), and as a bonus the music is often genuinely catchy as well as amusing. Overall, good if not great stuff.

Seven out of 10.

They've done it again!

[reid23882007 · 9/10 · 21 December 2007]

I must admit that I went into this one already thinking it would be another home run by Apatow and the gang. And they did not disappoint. John C. Reily has turned in his most comedic performance to date which is something considering his roles in Talledega Nights and Boogie Nights.

Johnny Cash probably is rolling in his grave, but in laughter and not dismay. There are just too many classic moments in this film to label it as a long SNL skit as others have done. IT IS A MUST SEE!

I think any review can be summed by saying that this is a comedy rock biopic in the spirit of Spinal Tap with the biting wit of a Mel Brooks film. Just Classic.

funny fictional biography film

[MLDinTN · 7/10 · 20 October 2008]

I never heard of this film before watching it on cable. It turned out to be surprisingly funny. This movie is about a fictional musician named Dewey Cox. It sort of follows recent films like the ones about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. It starts with Dewey as a boy and he is responsible for a horrible accident with his talented brother. It's quite funny as the top half keeps talking. Flash forward to high school. Dewey is now played by John C Reily and he is supposed to be 14. Quite funny. He sings a song that sends people into a tizzy. Next thing you know his married, with a kid, and trying to make it in showbiz. Another really funny thing is whenever Dewey runs into the Tim Meadows character doing drugs. He also says you don't want none of this. Then acts offended if Dewey wants to say no. But as the story goes, Dewey gets hooked on drugs. He gets anther wife and has so many kids he can't keep track of them. He is at odds with his dad.

And the songs they come up with are catchy, but silly. The film just en-chances the typical out of control life of a rock star.

FINAL VERDICT: Better than expected. Not for kids.

I am stunned into absolute silence!

[SteveHistory · 1/10 · 27 December 2007]

Prior to attending a showing of "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" I consulted the IMDb as I always do to see what other viewers thought of the movie. I was pleased to see it received 7 our of 10 stars. Now after seeing this piece of trash I will be forever skeptical of the rankings viewers give movies on this site. I never thought I would cry in this movie but I did. I cried when I realized I wasted $8 on this piece of crap. There were plenty of jokes and a lot of gags but none of them worked. NONE of them made me laugh. In fact the entire theater of about 80 customers sat in silence throughout this movie. Generally ANY movie will have one or two morons that laugh at every profanity or every drug reference, but this movie never elicited a single audible laugh from ANYONE in the theater. I cannot believe that one reviewer even compared it to "This is Spinal Tap"--a movie I consider one of the funniest and most innovative of the past thirty years. This was definitely NO "Spinal Tap"!!! The site gags were not funny, the set ups for most jokes were ridiculous, and the pay-offs simply didn't work. I could tell that on paper these jokes must have appeared hilarious but on the big screen they simply fell flat. Granted, there were a couple of catchy tunes, but if that is all you are looking for, simply buy the soundtrack and save yourself the ordeal of sitting through two hours of torture. I gave this movie 1 star only because IMDb didn't allow me to actually give it MINUS points--which it deserved. AVOID at all costs.

Most underrated comedy

[baileyandy · 10/10 · 22 May 2019]

I would give it 9 stars but I gave 10 because it's entirely underrated on IMDB. Quite possibly the 2nd funniest John C. Reilly performance behind only Step Brothers. More people need to see this movie, I watched it for the first time yesterday and I've never written a review but I felt compelled to when I saw the low rating. Truly a hidden gem

Walking Hard, or Hardly Walking?

[esupin · 7/10 · 5 December 2007]

Every comedy has its moments, and this Walk Hard doesn't have anything spectacular to make it stand out from all the other passable, but ultimately forgettable, comedies. John C. Reilly plays Dewey Cox, who is basically Johnny Cash... this is, after all, a spoof of a biopic.

First of all, the fake Southern accents were a bit much. It was cute at first, but it soon became a little grating and obviously fake. Judd Apatow co-wrote this, but I get the feeling that he's better at doing "realistic" comedies. There is absolutely no sense of morality or character development in Walk Hard, unlike in Apatow's previous movies. I'm not saying that every movie needs this, but I left the theater feeling like this could have been a ten-part series on SNL or something. Every switch in scene is just a set-up for another gag, and a lot of moments in Dewey's life are skipped over. Nowhere do characters actually have a conversation with each other for a reason that doesn't involve setting up a joke.

I know that John C. Reilly is the "main man," but Tim Meadows got the most laughs from me, including a continuous drug joke. However, absolutely no one laughed at the Incredible Hulk joke. I'm not saying all the jokes were bad, but the pacing of the whole movie was off. Huge chunks of Dewey's life get ignored; Dewey's life is missing a few scenes in my opinion.

But before I start getting too negative, I want to say that this movie has some very good jokes, and some good songs, although the hip-hop one was a bit too cheesy. I know a lot of work was put into the songs, and except for the aforementioned rap song, they were well put together. I know that Jewel (what a voice!) Ghostface Killah, Lyle Lovett, and Jackson Browne contribute to the title song "Walk Hard" (and I think Jewel sings for Jenna in the duet, although I could be wrong), while Reilly sings all of his songs well. Still, is this Spinal Tap? Not quite. The best song had to be the Bob Dylan spoof, followed closely by a clever little duet with Jenna Fischer. Jenna Fischer plays Dewey's main girl (he sleeps with 411 of them according to the tagline, but we don't really see many of them). Jenna does a pretty good job, but she doesn't get a lot of serious acting here anyway. It was strange seeing in a lot of cute dresses and hair styles. Definitely not the same Jenna you're used to in The Office, that's for sure.

Oh, and if you were expecting boatloads of "Cox" jokes, the whole middle portion of the movie was seriously lacking in them. I know that Walk Hard doesn't take itself seriously at all, but I got the feeling that if it did, I would have cared more about it. All in all, a slightly above average comedy.

Here's what it looks like when a movie dies on screen

[onepotato2 · 1/10 · 17 December 2011]

I laughed once or twice when I saw the first ten mins of this, then had an obligation to attend to. Never saw the rest. But I picked it up on clearance last night for just a buck (!), and I can only say; even a dollar, was waaaaaaay too much to pay for this turd.

The entire "Watch how funny we make this next extremely unfunny scene!" thing is way dead. Every single gag feels like it was written down once and never improved; in the hope that the now-thoroughly irritating combo of the Apatow Barn of blunderers, and SNL 2nd raters would really push it over the top.

They don't. This is lifeless. It's a movie where comedy goes to die. As with all Sandler, Carrey, Apatow movies, the half-written humor is blended with conventional, sentimental touchpoints that don't belong anywhere near a comedy movie. (I thought we were mocking that.)

Somewhere between "A Mighty Wind" and "Airplane!"

[rooprect · 7/10 · 9 November 2014]

"Walk Hard" is another film from the Judd Apatow gang who brought you such inane gems as "Anchorman", "Talladega Nights", "40-Year-Old Virgin" and so on. In the same vein, you'll get a wacky blend of absurd humor, parody, satire and sexual gags not suitable for young kids. Note: I saw the unrated version which has a few gags featuring, among other things, one or two closeup shots of a man's hangy down thing (haha IMDb won't let me type w.a.n.k.e.r).

The tone of the whole film is very tongue-in-cheek and satirical, with a good zinger at least once every 30 seconds. Perhaps even more fun is spotting all the cameo appearances by famous personalities such as director Harold Ramis (playing "L'Chaim" the Jewish industrialist), Paul Rudd ("John Lennon"), Jack Black ("Paul McCartney"), Jack White from the White Stripes ("Elvis") and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam (playing himself). Other actors from SNL, The Office and Big Bang Theory add to the star-spotting extravaganza.

The story is mostly a shameless mock-up of Johnny Cash's biopic "Walk the Line" but with scenes parodied from other musical biopics like "Ray" and "La Bamba". A goofily predictable rise to fame of a music star story, this film mercilessly skewers the clichés, with over-the-top melodramatic scenes like the bigwig producer telling Dewey he sucks and will never make it, only to start singing his praises after Dewey strums 2 chords. Other gags are even more silly, like some of the corny visual wordplays in "Airplane!" (for example there's a dramatic scene where he shouts "I can't fight the temptations!" and runs into the hallway where we see ...guess who?... singing their motown hit "My Girl"). From the outset all the way to its conclusion this movie is pure silliness.

If you like 'em that way then have no fear, you won't be let down. However if you're expecting something more along the lines of the more subtle yet equally hilarious Christopher Guest comedies ("Spinal Tap", "A Mighty Wind", "Best in Show"), then you might start to tire of the fast paced, deliberately predictable gags we see here. "Walk Hard" is an enjoyable experience but probably not intended to be a cult classic music comedy like the aforementioned Guest films which spawned an entire genre of sophisticated comedy (if you can consider a film called "A Mighty Wind" to be sophisticated). "Walk Hard" is just pure mindless entertainment, and it delivers. Watch it on days when you just want to shut your brain off and have some fun. I knocked off a few points because the nudity & prolonged sex scenes can get a little distracting from this otherwise silly romp (a 10-second closeup of a man's crankshaft might cross the line of discomfort).

Entertaining, makes you laugh, not the best comedy but OK

[tatmeister · 6/10 · 5 January 2008]

This is a comedy movie intended for laughs. Come with your friends and popcorn and prepare to have a good time. This movie made me laugh throughout, even though the script wasn't well-written and some jokes were lame, old and used. The acting is OK but you won't really notice it since this is a comedy. Unfornately, it's a comedy that's been done many times before. Most of the jokes are very old or just do not fit, or the characters cannot accomplish their effects to the full (as in Judd Apatow's other hits such as "40 year old Virgin"). I was entertained though, had a good laugh, left the theater smiling. It wasn't CRAP, it's actually watchable (the entire movie), and no it's not a family movie :)