Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Laugh-Hard: The "Anchorman" school of comedy is back!
Ahh, the parody style in comedy these days, the new golden fountain of ingenuity and endless resources of funny references and outrageous situations. From the costume and fart jokes of E. Murphy and M. Laurence to the almost "genital" raunchy style of the Wayans brothers, the lesson learned was: no matter how hilarious or ridiculous are the ingredients, to cook a good comedy requires a good chef. Many talented people participated in this new product of the popular "Anchorman" style in parody, but only one stands out for being the most succesful and intelligent in his domain: Screenwriter and bright filmaker Mr. Judd Apatow, whose formula i'm gonna use to disect his old partner's movie in two relevant points:

-BALANCE: In comedy, it's very hard to digest 90 straight minutes of the same story and character, that's why self-absorved and mono-thematic comedies often fail. Judd A. knows that in order to keep things entertaining , you have to throw at least three paralel and related stories to the grill, giving them different treatment and lenght according to their importance, but keeping the tone for the final mix.

Here, we have have a story about a single goofy and irreverent character all the way, surrounded by different hilarious situations. The factors that keep the movie floating are the biographic straight forward story with the proper tale development and character evolution implied, combined with outrageous humor and ridiculous situations and the final most important satire element and its infinite posibilities. For that, we maintain focus hoping for more. Great, so far.

-RHYTHM: There are bad comedies with great moments, and great comedies flat and even, but effective. In comedy, rhythm is related to the style, and in this case the style is deadpan and out of proportions, with extreme characters like Dewey cox, based on a complete revision of many popular recognizable legends in music history, inside a total parody of the music business of the last century in a biographic, demented tale. So many spicy and hilarious elements converge into great extreme scenes from time to time, but the moments between those scenes became the tedious and predictable glue that puts the story togheter. A minute of laughter doesn't compensate a minute of gapes and yawns, keep it even or lose it.

For example, Judd Apatow extracts humor from dialogue and "daily" situations with regular people, with great rhythm in his directing style. Jake Kasdan chooses to exploit the movie as a vehicle from a single over the top character with great charisma, but he risked to turn his fifth directing effort into another version of "Tallageda nights". Lucky for him, the flair of his old friend from "Freaks and Geeks" Judd A. shines over the predictable humor and the obvious aproach to the hedonism and obligatory myth of the rock and roll business.

The absurd and cliche story packed with male nudity and standard elements, stands out because of the legacy of "The Anchorman" style, wich Will Ferrel abused to the very end (Blades of Glory). Judd Apatow saved this formula with his great screen plays and the hilarious revisions of legendary music icons portrayed as buffoons, turning the whole music industry into an amusing and diverting scenario that surrounds our main musician-clown with astounding nostalgic and satirical vintage feelings. The sense of humor aplied to the contemporary myth of the music history is surprising and colorful, highly beneficent for the ingenious character development in every clever musical stage.

Fans of "The Anchorman" and Judd Apatow, form in single line to watch this overall great musical comedy of parody and rise-to-fame story, and enjoy the outstanding music score and exorbitant humor of this delightful and totally worth-the-look comedy. Recomended, a great guaranteed good time behind the TV screen. Popcorn recomended too.

Hilarious! Great Songs! Great Script! Great Actors! Fun Surprises!
I don't know what more you could want from a comedy movie. I've watched this twice in the past two days, laughing throughout each viewing. The fact that John C. Reilly can actually sing, very well, adds so much to this movie. All the acting is terrific, I've been waiting for a funny roll for Parnell and especially Tim Meadows, and all of the other guest stars in this movie really bring it to life. If you've seen "Walk the Line," then the parody is even more enjoyable. What a funny movie.

Funny Flick
Can't wait to own the Blu-ray, hopefully the price comes down. But yeah this is another hit from Apatow and crew, can't wait to dig into all the extras on this disc.