Movie Review: “Walk Hard”

Produced by Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad), “Walk Hard” shows flashes of comic brilliance as a spoof of the music industry and its excesses.

The film tells the story of singer Dewey Cox’s rise from a dirt-poor farm in the South to fame and fortune in the music industry.  Along the way, the movie tackles every music-era cliché from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. 

Dewey, played superbly by first-time leading man John C. Reilly, suffers through nearly every rock star stereotype: driven to the blues after accidentally slicing his more-talented brother in half with a machete (“I’m cut in half pretty bad!”), he attains instant success in the early rock n’ roll industry, gets kicked out of his house for singing the devil’s music, and finally goes on a long quest through rock, punk, psychedelic, and even 70s variety show phases before settling down to raise his three-dozen some-odd kids.

The key to this movie is the absolute sincerity of the actors: Reilly gives Dewey, who could easily become a cardboard cutout target for unconnected zingers, an endearing sweetness. There’s none of the “tell a joke and make a ham face” acting anywhere in this movie; instead, the completely-straightforward film is acted, shot and experienced no differently than a made-for Oscar movie – just with surreal-ly funny dialogue, like taking the script for Walk the Line and replacing the word “soul” with “giraffe”. All of Apatow’s previous films worked well because they combined incredibly inventive vulgarity with a touching wave of sweetness. 

The cast isn’t asked to do much other than deliver madcap lines with a straight face: the two best are clearly Jenna Fischer, who plays Dewey’s version of June Carter, and Raymond J. Berry, the ever-disapproving father.  The film has no shortage of big-name stars: Eddie Vedder, Ghostface Killah, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne and Jewel all show up, playing themselves. There are also terrific cameos by Jack Black and Paul Rudd as a battling Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and the White Stripe’s Jack White does a lively impersonation of Elvis.

The film works well as a vicious satire of the music industry, rock star worship and musicianship in general.

Warning! There are scenes of male full-frontal nudity, although not exactly of the “walking hard” variety.

Best Lines in the Movie:

Sam: Get outta here, Dewey!
Dewey Cox: What are y’all doin’ in here?
Sam: We’re smoking reefer and you don’t want no part of this shit.
Dewey Cox: You’re smoking *reefers*?
Sam: Yeah, ‘course we are; can’t you smell it?
Dewey Cox: No, Sam. I can’t.
Girl Groupie: Come on, Dewey! Join the party!
[takes a hit off a joint]
Sam: No, Dewey, you don’t want this. Get outta here!
Dewey Cox: You know what, I don’t want no hangover. I can’t get no hangover.
Sam: It doesn’t give you a hangover!
Dewey Cox: Wha-I get addicted to it or something?
Sam: It’s not habit-forming!
Dewey Cox: Oh, okay… well, I don’t know… I don’t want to overdose on it.
Sam: You can’t OD on it!
Dewey Cox: It’s not gonna make me wanna have sex, is it?
Sam: It makes sex even better!
Dewey Cox: Sounds kind of expensive.
Sam: It’s the cheapest drug there is.
Dewey Cox: [at a loss and out of excuses] Hmm.
Sam: You don’t want it!
Dewey Cox: I think I kinda want it.
Sam: Okay, but just this once. Come on in.

Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language.

Runtime: 96 minutes