Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Singer Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) overcomes his lack of smell to become a musical legend.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a parody of the many musical films that came before it, from Oliver Stone’s The Doors to James Mangold’s Walk the Line, Dewey Cox covers them all, but if you haven’t seen any of those film’s don’t worry, the jokes aren’t film specific anymore than they were in Airplane.

The film itself is somewhat uneven but overall it hits more often than it misses. Reilly is a natural fit for the lead character, and wisely plays the role rather straight, though it’s the supporting cast that really shines.

Featuring an array of cameos from writer/producer Judd Apatow’s previous films (and several surprises), as well as strong turns by Raymond J. Barry as Cox’s father and Matt Besser as Cox’s band mate, Reilly has a lot of help, but it’s Tim Meadows who steals all of his scenes as the dead-pan enabler of Cox’s array of addictions. Here’s hoping Apatow finds a way to work him into his stable.

At 96 minutes, Walk Hard is about 10 minutes too long. That the story is cyclical is one of the gags, but it’s one that gets old fairly quickly. Still, like many of Apatow’s films, I suspect Walk Hard will get better with age.