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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 14423
Released: April 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $4.86 |
| Used Price: $1.13 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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.
Description of Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Widescreen Edition):
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
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)
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Walk Hard: The Story of Dewey Cox 
2009-12-09 - 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
Awesome movie and great music 
2009-11-04 - There's nothing I can say positive about this movie that the other reviews haven't. From 'He's only 14!' to the last frame of Dewey clutching his chest, this movie rocks. The comedy is crazy in parts, yet subtle in others.
The one thing that really stood out at me, is the number of running jokes in this movie. Dewey's wife says he'll fail no matter how much he accomplishes, he tries each new drug in the bathroom, his music changes after each new drug, he's never home but has dozens of kids, he busts up bathrooms each time he gets peed off, his dad keeps saying the wrong kid died, he mispronounces the first two drug names 'reefers' and 'cok caine', and there's another one or two I found but can't think of.
This is a great movie, and the best comedy I've seen in years.
Was surprised I liked it so much.
2009-10-24 - Warning, mild spoilers ahead! (Very mild, don't think they will spoil anything)
I bought this (or rather the bilingual Japanese version) from Amazon.co.jp, which is why it doesn't list me as having purchased it through Amazon.com. I bought this in the hopes that I could share it with students in a university Media class that I teach. I didn't have much in the way of expectations, mainly because I knew next to nothing about it before buying it (I don't know if it was even released theatrically here), but I found that I really liked this movie. I never thought I would like a film where not 1, but 2 people get halved with machetes -- I never, ever, ever, ever, never, never thought I would say that. But there you go, never ever say never.
What is this movie? A parody of Walk the Line? A genre by genre comedic dance of the history of American popular music? A tour de force for John C. Reilly? I think it is a bit of all of these things. I think one of the most important things about this film is that it shows that Reilly is much, much more than a sidekick for Will Ferrell. He is a genuine talent. I loved the fact that after the elementary school aged Dewey Cox, it is always Reilly, with no intermediate stage actors, playing the character. Somehow I found it really funny when the 6 foot 4 , 40 something Reilly, was playing 14 year old Cox asking his mom not to embarrass him in front of his friends.
Much like Jerry Lee Lewis, Cox gets a twelve year old girlfriend, but she is played by a 30 something year old actress. Utterly absurd (but not in the derogatory sense). Like many good movies, the supporting cast makes a big difference. Tim Meadows, SNL alum (the Ladies Man) was very good as the drummer who was with Cox since the beginning of his career, and was his gateway into spiraling decline by enabling his drug use, running the gambit as enabler from pot in the 50s, to Viagra in the modern day. How about Harold Ramis (I didn't recognize him until his 2nd or 3rd appearance) as a Hasidic record producer, or David Krumolz (Charlie from Numb3rs) as long time agent. Jack Black as Paul McCartney? Frank Muniz (Malcolm, form Malcolm in the Middle) as Buddy Holiday? This film was fun from a "Who the hell is that!?!?" name that cameo, perspective. --Please don't complain that Jack Black has almost no physical resemblance to Paul McCartney, that and his accent is spoofalicious, it is part of the gag.
Speaking of which, one of the cool things about this film was its effective use of the running gag. It is so easy to overuse or misuse such things, but from Meadows continuous admonition of "You don't want any of this!", just before he pulls Cox into a new form of drug abuse, to Cox's tendency to tear sinks out of bathroom walls as a metaphor for despair, to his father's horrible mantra, "The wrong son died!", somehow they seemed to play all these jokes pretty well. This film was all about hyperbole. It really seemed to capture so much of American music, and troubled musicians, by showing intentionally exaggerated to the breaking point versions of different character types.
I can't understand the 1 star reviews given to this film, but I guess you can't argue taste, perhaps especially so in terms of humor. Either you get it or you don't. I think I got it. His wife, 13 or 14 years old at the time, already with a several kids (though remember, the actress is in her 30s), using as her telephone sign off, "I love you, you're going to fail!," or Cox not realizing that bigamy was illegal ("What, even if your famous?") was pretty genuinely funny.
I hope that this film makes a lot of money as a dvd, gains a following, and maybe cult status, because apparently it didn't get much notice in the theaters. I really want the powers that be to be encouraged to allow more, similarly creative stuff, and for John C. Reilly (and Harold Ramis, and Tim Meadows, and the other creative folks too numerous to mention) to be in a lot more things. This is not a Ferrell & Reilly comedy, minus Ferrell. This is its own, pretty cool thing that should be judged on its own (in my opinion) very high merits.
Great movie, bad case
2009-10-11 - The movie is great, and it looks especially good on blu-ray. The only problem was the case was broken, the top left corner was cracked which keeps it from closing. I want to say that it must be a shipping problem, but I looked inside the box and I could not find the broken piece of the case which means that it must have been broken before it was put in the box.
A surprise funny film
2009-09-30 - I saw trailers of the film and didn't think I would like it. But. John C.Reilly has hit the mark this time, as most of his work has. It will have you in stitches. A funny title as well as a fun, funny film.
