WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY
WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY |
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After the accidental death of his brother, Dewey Cox became a king of country music. Nothing was going to stand in his way: drugs, women or drink. Dewey Cox walked the line, hard. | score 3 |
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| Cast John C. Reilley, Jenna Fischer, Harold Ramis, Jack Black Director Jude Kasdan Screenwriter Judd Apatow Jude Kasdan Country USA Rating / Running Time MA / 96 minutes Australian Release January 2008 Official Site (c) moviereview
2006-2008
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Any film that opens with a man shouting, “I need Cox” is going to get attention, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story gets its fair share. Re-engaging much of the Zucker zaniness that has been lost in recent years, this unblinking spoof of Walk The Line does for the music biopic what Flying High did for disaster movies. It’s a heartfelt, if pitiless, assault on the seriousness of life. “Let’s go play machete fight; ain’t no terrible tragedy gonna happen today!” When young Dewey (Reilly) literally cuts his talented brother in half, their father is inconsolable. Teenage Dewey (Reilly) escapes mental duress through erotic black music and by his mid-twenties, Dewey (Reilly) has a stellar singing career and a drug habit to match it. An inevitable slide forces middle-aged Dewey (Reilly) into the clutches of variety TV and disco remixes. You can see where this is heading and by the time he’s pensioned, Dewey (Reilly) is back in the arms of truelove Darlene and his 36 children. Walk Hard is nothing if not irrepressibly silly. Co-written by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin), it’s a delightful knockabout comedy that soars on double, triple and quadruple entendres, and downright stupidity. Reilly shines in the lead role, a performance that earned a Golden Globe nomination. He is utterly convincing, whether portraying eight or eighty year old Cox. Well, kind of. The story’s cruel, often vicious humour neatly parodies all that came before, and most of what will come after. Although Apatow’s focus on his source is too tight to take the material far above the line, it remains solidly entertaining throughout. As a consequence, it’s now hard to watch any musician and not think of Cox. // COLIN FRASER |