Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Jake Kasdan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Krumholtz, Jenna Fischer, John C. Reilly, Raymond J. Barry, Tim MeadowsDirector: Jake Kasdan
Brand: REILLY,JOHN C.
Cinematographer: Uta Briesewitz
Composer: Michael Andrews
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 216 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-08
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Walk Hard: The Story of Dewey Cox
Summary: 4 Stars
Spoof movies have been around for as long as the art form of film has been entertaining people. From Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen to the Marx Brothers and Mel Brooks, film makers have been spoofing other movie forms to satirize society and politics. Spoof movies have made us laugh while also showing us the error in our ways and the inherent stupidity found in our societal ways. Unfortunately, the form has taken a beating with the "[Insert Genre Here] Movie" series which has driven the genre into the mire. But when Judd Apatow joined with Jake Kasdan (a co-collaborator on Freaks and Geeks and Zero Effect), what they came up with should have turned the genre up on it's ear.
After the accidental halving of his brother, Dewey Cox learns how to play blues guitar and starts writing songs. At the age of 14, he insights a riot with the song "Take My Hand" and leaves home to seek stardom. Dewey's discovered by Jewish businessmen in a club where black folk go to dance erotically when Dewey fills in for the regular act when he gets laryngitis. Making a huge splash with his first single, Walk Hard, Dewey goes on the road and we follow him through the ups and downs, the relationships, the drugs, and the destroying of multiple public and private bathrooms.
Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow do a great job of making this movie feel like a real biopic and not just a series of skits formed together to make a movie. They present each time frame with real authenticity, injecting the 60's with the whimsy we've seen in past movies, and the 70's with the "grooviness" we've come to expect of this kind of movie. The music feels authentic as well, feeling as if it's been written throughout the time frames seen in the movie.
But you don't go into a parody for the dramatic elements, and for the comedy this movie has great pedigree. It fits in handsomely with other Apatow comedies like Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. John C. Reilly, fresh off Taladega Nights, shows off more of the comedic chops that he had shown in that movie, while also bringing a dramatic pedigree to the role not typical to this kind of comedy in recent years (he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Chicago). On top of that, it seems as though everyone in Hollywood wanted to be involved in this movie as this movie boasts one of the largest lists of cameos I have ever seen in a movie including Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Jack White of the White Stripes, Lyle Lovett, Jewell, Tim Meadows, Justin Long, Kristen Wiig, Craig Robinson, and Jonah Hill just to name a few.
As with any biopic, whether real or fake, though, this movie seems to loose it's away as the main character loses his way as well. It becomes more frenetic and loses pacing later on, but seems to catch itself before straying too far. Also some of the characters are underdeveloped as usually happens in biopics as you try to cram in characters that truly effected the main characters life. Luckily, the movie never feels as though it's dragging, and remains consistent with the laughs throughout.
While Walk Hard was a critical hit, it unfortunately, it bombed at the box office where it deserved more of an audience. I highly recommend giving this chance if you like comedy and musician biopics. While funny, the movie never feels as though it's making fun of the people presented in the biopics it's skewering like Johnny Cash or Ray Charles. A word of warning, as with any Apatow flick one can expect a large amount of vulgarity including full frontal male and female nudity, a lot of cursing, and more than one person getting cut in half, so this may not be a movie you want to watch in front of the children. For those of you who can get around the aforementioned vulgarity (or embrace it as I do) you will be justly rewarded!
4/5
Summary of Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Two-Disc Special Edition)
One of the most iconic figures in rock history, Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) had it all: the women (over 411 served), the friends (Elvis, The Beatles) and the rock 'n' roll lifestyle (a close and personal relationship with every pill and powder known to man). But most of all, he had the music that transformed a dimwitted country boy into the greatest American rock star who never lived. A wild and wicked send-up of every musical biopic ever made, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is gut-busting proof that when it comes to hard rocking, living and laughing, a hard man is good to find.The Pixar-like roll of Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad) continues with another sure-fire hit. In charting the meteoric rise, catastrophic fall and Lazarus-like rise of rocker Dewey Cox, Walk Hard parodies the classic Hollywood bio-pic, cashing in mostly on Walk the Line. John C. Reilly, one of Hollywood's most solid character actors, makes the most of his Golden Globe-nominated star turn as Dewey, whose road to stardom is paved with a childhood tragedy that claims the life of his prodigiously talented brother ("The wrong kid died," is his father's mantra), instant stardom (his first record is a hit just 35 minutes after it was recorded), sex and drugs, and the inevitable "dark (effen) period" that leads him to rehab. Reilly gets solid backup from current and former Saturday Night Live alumni, including Kirsten Wiig as his incredibly fertile first wife who has no faith in his musical aspirations ("You're never going to make it," she cheerily ends one phone call); Tim Meadows, never better, as Dewey's drummer, who, in one of the film's best scenes, does a poor job of dissuading him from trying marijuana); and Chris Parnell as his bass player. Jenna Fischer leaves Pam back at The Office as Darlene, Dewey's virtuous duet partner. Hilarious cameos give Walk Hard a great "Hey!" factor: Hey, that's Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly. Hey, that's "Kenneth" from 30 Rock. Hey, there's Jack Black and Paul Rudd as--no kidding--Paul McCartney and John Lennon revealing "a rift in the Beatles." Some of the jokes are obvious (come on; the guy's last name is Cox), others inspired. But the decades-spanning music, echoing the styles of gritty Johnny Cash, romantic Roy Orbison, obtuse Bob Dylan, trippy Brian Wilson, and even a bit of anachronistic punk rock, is as pitch perfect and affectionately observed as in The Rutles, This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind. Walk Hard earns its R-rating, particularly for a sure-to-be-talked-about scene of hotel-room debauchery. But: Hilarious? Outrageous? Twisted? To quote the title of one of Dewey's hit songs, "Guilty as Charged." --Donald Liebenson
On the DVD
Though an unaccountable box office disappointment, Walk Hard is poised for discovery and cult status on DVD. You'd think the film had pretty much exhausted all the puns and double-entendres you could get out of Dewey Cox's last name, but the Elvis-inspired "A Christmas Song from Dewey Cox," the "Cox Sausage Commercial" and "The Real Dewey Cox," which are among this two-disc set's extra features, manages to get even more mileage out of that juvenile joke. Speaking of which, there is a "cockumentary" devoted to actor Tyler Nilson, who provides the film with its most shocking laugh during the hotel orgy scene, The Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director's Cut contains, ahem, extended footage of that scene and features the deleted setups for some of the theatrical cut's more inexplicable gags (a deleted montage reveals just how Dewey and band member Theo wound up in bed together). Better than a gag reel is the "Line-O-Rama," a hit-and-miss compilation of improv outtakes. Full song performances give this film's Oscar-worthy music its due. The Daily Show's John Hodgman gets "The Last Word" in a celebrity profile spoof that was originally broadcast on Comedy Central. With a more traditional "Making of" featurette and entertaining audio commentary by writer Judd Apatow, director Jake Kasdan, and star John C. Reilly, Walk Hard walks even harder on DVD. --Donald Liebenson
Beyond Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
 On Blu-ray |  The Soundtrack |  UMD for PSP |
Stills from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (click for larger image)
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