Walk Hard

                                 

"Walk haarrrd"

"What's wrong with him? Why does he keep saying that?" Chris said.

"It's the name of a movie he rented. He hasn't even watched it yet  but he keeps saying it over and over. Ignore him, he's just a dork." Lisa said.

"Walk haarrd"

"Stop that, you're getting on my nerves."

A minute of petulant silence. Then:

"Walk haaard"

* * * *

We finally got around to watching Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story today.

 I was put off for the first few minutes by how closely it mirrored Walk the Line. Granted, the Johnny Cash bio-pic was an obvious inspiration for the film, but the Scary Movie treatment has bored me for years now. Please Hollywood, let the genre die, and leave Airplane and Naked Gun as it's sole memorial.

And then it had the following exchange between Dewey Cox and his first wife.

"What about my dreams?"

""Edith, I told you, I can't build you a candy house, it will fall down! The sun will melt the candy! It won't work!"

"It will if it never rains!"

And from that moment on, as I sat on the couch desperately trying not to pee my pants from laughter, I was hooked.

The movie mirrors Cash's life for a bit, from the death of his brother and his father's over-the-top lifelong reaction to it,  to his drug addiction and extramarital love forhis duet partner.

It's a hoot. Yeah, I know. It doesn't sound like it should be, but believe you me, from this day on whenever someone says "The wrong boy died!" I'm fit to crack up.

Pay attention to this next clip. It's a fitting summary of our nation's foolish war on pot, and really funny to boot.  FAIR WARNING: one cuss word, drug references.

 

 

Someone please transcribe that for me!

John C. Reilly was outstanding in the title role, keeping the comedy going with a straight face and genuine acting skills that were worth his Golden Globe nomination. (did he win?)

 Jenna Fischer (better known as Pam from The Office) was nearly as good playing Cox's  second wife. Quite aside from her acting skills, 'if' she sang as portrayed in the movie (I know Reilly did) then she's got a very  impressive voice. (btw - this is a useless aside - she is far more attractive than you would think from TV. There she's 'cute', but here, in the scene where Dewey's wife discovers them . . yowsas.)

One of the things that impressed me about the movie was the quality of the songs. Oh, most were tongue in cheek, but they all gave the impression of actual, heart-felt if ridiculous tunes you'd catch on someone's CD. Let's Duet is just plain funny, but Walk Hard is a halfway decent tune quite aside from being part of a movie. Small wonder, since Marshall Crenshaw penned the track.

So 3.5 stars out of 5 if you are looking for an intelligent but over the top, somewhat vulgar comedy. It just might crack my personal top five comedies list.