Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a late 2007 comedy that picked up a Golden Globe nomination for its lead actor, John C. Reilly. Reilly, typically a co-star prior to this film, is certainly the highlight of the film as he portrays fictional musician Dewford “Dewey” Cox. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was directed by Jake Kasdan, the director of the 2002 film Orange County and the 2007 film The TV Set. Judd Apatow, the director of Knocked Up, wrote the film along with Kasdan. Kasdan and Apatow worked together on Freaks and Geeks and also on Undeclared. Kasdan is the son of famed writer/director Lawrence Kasdan, who directed The Big Chill and Silverado.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is essentially a parody of the music film genre. It parodies several music legends, including Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and most notably Johnny Cash. Reilly stars as Dewey Cox, a musician who has skyrocketed from humble beginnings in Alabama. He begins to struggle with his popularity and experience the typical trappings of fame, including marriage, divorce, drug habits, and difficulty overcoming his troubled past. Cox eventually becomes somewhat of a legend in the music industry and takes to the stage one last time at a concert in his honour. The story is told mostly through flashbacks that cover the various phases of Cox’s life.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story also stars Jenna Fischer, best known for her work on the hit television series The Office. Fischer plays Darlene Madison, Cox’s backup singer and eventual second wife. The film features a number of comedic performances, including Tim Meadows, Kristen Wiig, Harold Ramis, Chris Parnell, and Matt Besser. There are a number of brief cameos, too. Jack White plays Elvis Presley in a rather amusing segment, Frankie Muniz plays Buddy Holly, Paul Rudd plays John Lennon, Jack Black plays Paul McCartney, Justin Long plays George Harrison, and Jason Schwartzman plays Ringo Starr. Apatow stalwart Jonah Hill also shows up as the ghost of Dewey’s brother. Eddie Vedder, Jewel, Ghostface Killah, Jackson Browne, and Lyle Lovett also show up as themselves.

Kasdan came up with the idea for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story after noting that most music biopics tended to have the same plot. After watching Ray, Walk the Line, and La Bamba, Kasdan took the idea for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story to his friend Judd Apatow and they began writing the film together. Apatow and Kasdan began writing the film immediately, filling it with all sorts of stories of rock lore and legend. The idea was to create an over-the-top superstar of music in Dewey Cox, but still to treat the idea seriously as though working for an Oscar nomination. Eventually, the pair decided that John C. Reilly would be the perfect fit and the film came together.

A key component to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story is the music. The music was put together by a group of songwriters writing specifically for the film. Marshall Crenshaw, the American singer-songwriter, composed the title track to the film, which wound up getting a Golden Globe nomination for Best Song. The music is certainly entertaining, as many of the songs are rather funny. A favourite of mine was the tune “Let’s Duet.” 33 total songs are featured in the movie and the cast and crew of the film came up with a total of 40. Dan Bern and Mike Viola wrote the majority of the songs and Van Dyke Parks was along for the ride, as he wrote the 1960s psychedelic track “Black Sheep.”

There is a good amount of humour in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, but it begins to wear thin after the first half, as is the case with most modern comedies in my experience. The songs are fresh and funny, for sure, and Reilly does a nice job at channelling various rock stars, but something about the film as a whole fell flat for me. I found my mind wandering off throughout the film’s second act and the 96-minute runtime felt a lot longer than it actually was. It may well turn out to be one of those films that are funnier to discuss than it is to see, like so many other modern comedies. Alas, I was disappointed with Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story despite being pleasantly surprised by some of the songs.

Judd Apatow and his gang of freaks and geeks are certainly making a dash for the box office as of late. With Superbad, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin on the platter, this Apatow written and stamped comedy falls a little bit short of those other three. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story does get marks for inventiveness and style, but there’s a punch lacking in this film despite sudden penises, hilarious Beatles send-ups, and a weird amount of debauchery. The whole thing, sadly, left me kind of blank.

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