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"Walk Hard" is a clever parody of the life of a rock-star, and bio-pics such as "Walk the line", "Ray" and "La Bamba". It follows the formula nearly perfectly, and follows fake rock-star legend Dewey Cox (and yes, they do have plenty of puns with his name, but this is to be expected) through his life in the 50's, 60's, 70's and into today.

The surprise of "Walk Hard" is that although it was written by the guys who made "Superbad" and "Knocked Up", and has the "formula spoof" similar to "Scary Movie" and "Epic Movie", this film manages to be quite intelligent, and manages to avoid overly gross out humor. While it has its share of gross out and slapstick gags, it isn't completely idiotic, while movies such as "Epic Movie" or "Talladega Nights" tend to be totally moronic and disgusting. The humor here is very observational, self-parodying, ironic, surreal, dark and often hysterical.

The reason why "Walk Hard" works well is because of its somewhat wicked sense of humor. It manages to ironically "overdue" the jokes to the point that you can see the actual funny part is that it is being overdone and over-the-top. It self implies that something is going to go bad, and makes the audience clearly see what path the scene is heading towards, which is also another part of its sense of humor.

The performances are very good as well. John Reilly plays Dewey very well, and his naive but good natured persona often plays out hysterically in contrast to a society often attempting to harm him. His character does lack some substance and emotional depth, though this is to be expected in the humorous nature of the film, and is the writing, not the acting. He plays the role from ages 14 to 71, and the goofy age difference between Reilly and how old of a character he is playing is another one of the film's ironic self-aware quirky jokes, in which he constantly reminds us of his age throughout the film so we can see this, as well as the purposely awkward looking make-up.

Jenna Fischer is great as his love interest and duet partner, a parody of Reese Witherspoon in "Walk the Line", who falls on and off for Dewey throughout the movie based on his life decisions, another movie formula cliché. Tim Meadows is hysterical as Cox' drug-addict drummer and long time friend, with all of his lines being in a tongue-in-cheek and smart-ass manner, and a hysterical repetition of scenes where he introduces Cox to drugs.

All in all, the only problem with this movie is that it is quite uneven. The movie seems to spend a large time dealing with Dewey's life in the 50's, not spending much time in the 60's, 70's or 90's, and spending no time in the 80's. It jumps into his problem a bit fast and doesn't go into depth into some areas of his life as much as others.

However, despite being somewhat uneven, "Walk Hard" remains a very entertaining, very funny, and witty movie. It is quite tragic that this opening weekend went up against the liking of nearly 4 very popular movies, resulting in a box office failure of this film. Hopefully next week, or in the future to come, this gem of a comedy (A rare thing in 2007), can be seen and gain a reputation among others.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (rated R). Directed by Jake Kasden. Written by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasden. Starring John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Raymond J. Berry, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Harold Ramis & Chris Parnell. Running Time: 96 minutes. Originally appeared in LakewoodBuzz.com.

OVERVIEW:

Like the film Ray (2004), a young boy and his brother frolic in the bucolic wonderland of the American South of the 1930s. Like Walk the Line (2005), a young man leaves his loving mother and hateful father to find solace in his music. Like... well, you get the idea. This film is primarily a send-up of the musical bio-pic, as Dewey Cox (Riley) channels nearly every rock icon that ever took the stage... from Dylan, Cash, Orbison, and Presley to Brian Wilson. Like his fellow rock stars, Dewey is often tempted by drugs and sex. In a hilarious motif, he is constantly opening a door and finding his drummer, Sam (Meadows), behind it with sexy backup singers and the latest drug of choice. "You don't want any part of this s**t," Sam says, and proceeds to tell Dewey all of the drug's benefits. Despite their wayward ways, Dewey and his band are discovered by a trio of Hasidic Jews and begin to record a remarkable string of number-one hits. As he cruises the decades like Forrest Gump with a guitar, Dewey meets all of his legendary contemporaries, played by uncredited actors you are likely to recognize. Watch especially for Lennon, McCartney and Buddy Holly.

REVIEW: 3 out of 4 Java Mugs

What is remarkable about this movie is the way we feel about the main character, Dewey Cox. It's easy to find sympathy for the likes of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles because we knew them as real people. But why do we feel so strongly about a singer we know does not really exist? Some of the credit goes to the filmmakers, who know which emotional buttons to push, but mostly we have Riley to thank. In an amazing portrayal, he takes what could have been a spoof-worthy sap and turns him into a fully developed character we really care about. Riley actually becomes Dewey Cox, by singing his heart out and even helping to write many of the film's songs.

Other performances are also worthy of note, particularly Fischer's sultry Darlene, Wiig's ever-pregnant Edith and Meadows' drug-addled drummer.

Though Riley's singing is quite good, it is still nice to have the likes of Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Jewel, Ghostface Killah and Eddie Vedder playing themselves and singing those Dewey Cox originals. But none of the music was as brilliant as an early scene with Honeyboy Edwards singing the blues.

And if there is a musical genre out there short of orchestral symphony, it gets sent up by this wonderful comedy.

Not a movie for the kiddies by a long shot, but if you are familiar with music artists from the 50s on, and especially if you lived through those periods of time, the parody of styles and stars will leave you with sore sides from laughing.

Make sure to listen closely to every lyric. They don't miss a chance to make jokes subtle or broad, and they don't take it easy on anyone.

Songs in the credits are just as funny as songs through the body of the movie, so make sure to wait around for those rather than switching off after the story itself fades to black.

A personal favorite of mine are the scenes where Dewey discovers new drugs. Although I've never taken drugs, even smoked marijuana, these scenes were just too funny to be offensive, especially the first discussion of the weed just named.

Be in the mood to watch a comedy, especially for a parody of this type. If you can't really pay attention, you won't get everything, and will just think the movie crude. Also, if you're really stuck up about what's in your comedy, then you may not like this movie.

If you're up for it, you'll die laughing.

Oh yes this movie was funny. I didn't have many expectations, if any, of this movie, but it certainly delivered. I knew from the trailers and ads that the movie was going to parallel if not parody "Walk the Line", but there were also several references to "Ray". I would say one of the funniest references to "Ray" was Dewey Cox losing his sense of smell.

Initially it looked like the movie would be very cheesy with punchlines being telegraphed well ahead of time. But, even with the punchlines being blatantly set up, it was better to go with the transparent set up instead of the thinly veiled set ups that a lot of comedies use.

Interestingly enough there was not much profanity which made its usage that much funnier. Now, I certainly could've done without the male nudity, but maybe that was only in the unrated version. Even still, by and large John C. Reily held his own and the movie was terrific.

Absolutely hilarious film. It might be the best parody-music biopic ever made, with amazing talent, excellent music and great, funny lines. Rewatch-ability is high. There are so many jokes in there and so much good music and acting, which make me wonder how come this film was not more popular back then. John C Reily is a multitalented actor and a great comedian overall and carries this film right from the start. I guess that some folks didn't like the walk-the-line Johnny Cash film parody moments and that maybe got the film some negative comments. Reily however does a great deal of respect to the artist and furthermore he sings on each track with his own amazing voice. Impressive, heartful and hilarious! Walk Hard. 10/10.

I've watched this movie around 50 times. Literally one of the funniest movies ever made. It would be great if it was a movie that kids could enjoy as well, but that is my only complaint. 100% adult themes and shows way too much for a responsible parent to allow children to watch.

When I was a kid we had Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Porky's. This is a hilarious movie, and I suggest watching it repeatedly since there will be a lot of things you will catch and fall over laughing at if you understand the movie at all. John C Reilly comes into a class A acting role with this one. And deserves it.

Great music as well as amazing acting. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. Love it.

I got a lot of laughs out of this film but I warn those that his another modern-day crude comedy. It's definitely not "family viewing." It's a parody on "Walk The Line," the biography of Johnny Cash with John C. Reilly playing the famous singer. He is extremely funny in this role but the humor is the absurd, dark variety.....so be ready for that!

It's really a parody of the rock 'n roll/folk/psychedelic scene, more than anything, from the beginnings in the mid 50s up to the present. The majority of the film deals with the late '50s and up to the '70s. You get a lot of "digs" at folk singers, Bob Dylan and then The Beatles. It's pretty innocent and very funny. The lyrics to songs are hilarious. You also get a lot jibes as Cash and his relationship with his girlfriend-then-wife, June Carter. That latter is played by a pretty and very sexy Jenna Fisher.

What isn't innocent are the sex, drugs and adultery jokes. Some of them are funny; some are way too silly or just plain crude and unnecessary....but that's comedies of today. I mean, we don't need to see repeated shots of a guy's penis, do we? Actually, the film only goes way overboard, language-and sex-wise, in the last 30 minutes when a bunch of f-bombs are yelled out and the story goes into the sewer....before coming out with a nice, sentimental ending. I guess that was supposed to make up for the all the sleaze. It didn't; but it still was an entertaining film which flew by.

One last thing: the music in here is excellent. Some think it's the best part of the film.

There's reason this film bombed when it came out. It starts off strong, a skewering of Walk the Line.

But they obviously ran out of material and desperately threw together anything they could come up with. The second half is just awful. What doesn't work:

Lame Beatles jokes.

Lame Beach Boys jokes.

Lame Dylan jokes.

Lame protest song and hippie jokes.

All of them were uninspired, predictable, and unfunny.

At the 45 minute mark, fast forward to the last 5 minutes.

Very surprised to see the IMDB rating for this one. It definitely deserves a higher score. The humour is often crude might not be everyone's cup of tea but you can easily compare it other movies in a similar over the top comedy-type genre like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step-Brothers etc. This one in my opinion is the best one out of all them. There were a few jokes that didn't land as great as they could but overall, this is was a non stop laugh out loud movie for me and all the people I have ever watched it with.

-John C Reilly's performance is amazing. Despite the fact that his character is unimaginably out of touch with the world surrounding him, he makes it look so believable. He is the perfect fit for this type of character and you can see, he put a lot of improv in the scenes and made it his own thing.

-The pacing of the movie is great. Its very clever in the way it depicts the cliches of music biography movies. It heavily underlines all the overused motifs in the genre (the neglecting father, the wife/lover perturbations, addiction to fame and money) but but makes them very genuine, in a way that the viewer doesn't get detached from the Dewie's story. -And the biggest star of the movie: The music. The songs are great, they're funny, catchy and really well performed. Each song captures the essence of its times and pushes the story forward. I would dare to say they could easily hang with some of the biggest scores from Hollywood musicals. This why this movie works so much better than the more recent "Popstar" with Adam Sandberg, which made a similar effort in mocking the perks of being a music star. In that movie, the songs are well written and funny, but never seem like the real deal. In "Walk Hard", you can actually see how the songs could be hits in the movie's universe. All of them have great replay value and make the movie very rewatchable. There's the career breaking song, the falling out of fame song, even a Bob Dylan parody witch is hilarious. Its just a clever and enjoyable commentary on the history of music.

All in all you should just watch it, if you haven't. I often skip movies if I see a lower than 7 rating on IMDB. You should not skip this one if you enjoy other Jud Apatow style comedies. Even if you've never been a fan of them, this one might change that!

Apatow Productions had a terrific 2007 and then "Walk Hard" happened. At least they know it--$35 M budget and a total gross of less than $20 M. While the musical biopic parody is an idea that certainly among other parody options is fitting for this decade, Apatow productions learned that success will come with originality. That and not to a release a film like this at Christmas time.

"Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" stars John C. Reilly in an hour and a half romp through his life as a musician beginning in the 1950s. Spoofing all other music biopics, Cox finds his way into love affairs, drugs and much much more. A lot of the parody jokes get overplayed and redundant, but some are definitely spot on. It definitely feels like an Apatow script, only this time with director/writer and friend of Apatow's Jake Kasden getting his say.

"Walk Hard" is star-studded. There are an unbelievable amount of cameos from Apatow's trademark crew as well as stars from Saturday Night Live and others not usually in his movies that make an appearance in the film. The amount of familiar faces makes the film seem incredibly over-produced and some of the shortest scenes appear to have an unnecessary amount of money put into them.

The film does have more humor in many respects than "Talladega Nights," but by no means comes close to matching up with "Knocked Up" and "Superbad." While those two films are somewhat more poignant and true-to-life, "Walk Hard" relies excessively on ridiculousness to be funny, more so than any of the Apatow predecessors.

In short, "Walk Hard" is funny and at times clever, but mostly just over-the-top and dumb. Every turn is a left turn and while many are applaudable, some are just downright weird.

Prior to attending a showing of "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" I consulted the IMDb as I always do to see what other viewers thought of the movie. I was pleased to see it received 7 our of 10 stars. Now after seeing this piece of trash I will be forever skeptical of the rankings viewers give movies on this site. I never thought I would cry in this movie but I did. I cried when I realized I wasted $8 on this piece of crap. There were plenty of jokes and a lot of gags but none of them worked. NONE of them made me laugh. In fact the entire theater of about 80 customers sat in silence throughout this movie. Generally ANY movie will have one or two morons that laugh at every profanity or every drug reference, but this movie never elicited a single audible laugh from ANYONE in the theater. I cannot believe that one reviewer even compared it to "This is Spinal Tap"--a movie I consider one of the funniest and most innovative of the past thirty years. This was definitely NO "Spinal Tap"!!! The site gags were not funny, the set ups for most jokes were ridiculous, and the pay-offs simply didn't work. I could tell that on paper these jokes must have appeared hilarious but on the big screen they simply fell flat. Granted, there were a couple of catchy tunes, but if that is all you are looking for, simply buy the soundtrack and save yourself the ordeal of sitting through two hours of torture. I gave this movie 1 star only because IMDb didn't allow me to actually give it MINUS points--which it deserved. AVOID at all costs.

Yeah, I really loved its absurdist humour a lot of the time, but it really dries up by the end and I really didn't find myself laughing as much as I did at the beginning of the film. About the time the film starts jumping ahead in time really dramatically, it starts losing its funny, and the end jokes nearly all fall flat. The musical numbers are terrific, though, simultaneously being hilarious while also being honest-to-goodness great songs in their own right. The Let's Duet montage is brill. And, of course, there's the wonderfully random stuff, like John C. Reilly playing himself at age 14, or the mockingly melodramatic acting of Tim Meadows and Jenna Fischer, or the shocking full-frontal male nudity, which is so obviously an attempt to receive surprise laughter that it's a pretty fantastic joke. If only the film had sustained its momentum, it could have been one of the best comedies of the year.

I just got back from round two with this film. "Walk Hard' the second go around made me laugh, but alas I don't think it is a comedy classic. It is however very funny especially if you know your rock music history and have seen a fair amount of music biopics.

Director Jake Kasdan continues his streak of making films that seem to be made for me, ie The Zero Effect and The T.V. Set (except Orange County which just sucked) Kasdan, bless his soul, isn't interested in making comedies that appeal to a broad audience. I find his movies very refreshing and pretty darn witty. Walk Hard continues the tradition. This time however, he does have Judd Apatow helping out. So "Walk Hard" is rife with all sorts of lowbrow humour as well. All of it is pretty funny. The film has lulls, but in this day and age of lazy spoofs like "Scary Movie" I can forgive them.

John C. Reilly nails this performance. He plays the movie silly (it is a very silly movie) yet his character still feels pretty genuine.

That genuine aspect probably makes the movie work for me. The songs are good. Kasdan and Apatow obviously have a love for the material. It's good that contemporary film makers are taking cues from Brooks and the Zucker brothers and showing a lot of love for the material while spoofing it. Something that other spoof movies fail at miserably.

So all in all...if you are a fan of all sorts of music.. Beatles to Beach Boys to Punk Rock...you just gotta see this movie

For everyone else...still pretty darn funny end kdc

I must admit that I went into this one already thinking it would be another home run by Apatow and the gang. And they did not disappoint. John C. Reily has turned in his most comedic performance to date which is something considering his roles in Talledega Nights and Boogie Nights.

Johnny Cash probably is rolling in his grave, but in laughter and not dismay. There are just too many classic moments in this film to label it as a long SNL skit as others have done. IT IS A MUST SEE!

I think any review can be summed by saying that this is a comedy rock biopic in the spirit of Spinal Tap with the biting wit of a Mel Brooks film. Just Classic.

I never heard of this film before watching it on cable. It turned out to be surprisingly funny. This movie is about a fictional musician named Dewey Cox. It sort of follows recent films like the ones about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. It starts with Dewey as a boy and he is responsible for a horrible accident with his talented brother. It's quite funny as the top half keeps talking. Flash forward to high school. Dewey is now played by John C Reily and he is supposed to be 14. Quite funny. He sings a song that sends people into a tizzy. Next thing you know his married, with a kid, and trying to make it in showbiz. Another really funny thing is whenever Dewey runs into the Tim Meadows character doing drugs. He also says you don't want none of this. Then acts offended if Dewey wants to say no. But as the story goes, Dewey gets hooked on drugs. He gets anther wife and has so many kids he can't keep track of them. He is at odds with his dad.

And the songs they come up with are catchy, but silly. The film just en-chances the typical out of control life of a rock star.

FINAL VERDICT: Better than expected. Not for kids.

As a huge fan of the previous Apatow movies, I drove recklessly through traffic to make it into an early screening of Walk Hard, and I'm happy I did. I think this movie is a different direction for Judd and his band, as it is more similar to Airplane in style than it is to Knocked Up. But that impressed me that they took that risk and made it work -- and it definitely worked as me and the rest of the theatre were laughing with regularity.

Without getting too much into the details of the movie because I hate spoilers, the thing that made this movie great to me was the unexpected humor. Like Airplane, there are a lot of times when you just don't see the next line coming, and those are the best laughs. Besides John C. Reilly in the lead role, who obviously got a lot of the funniest lines, Tim Meadows as Dewey Cox's drummer really cracked me up, and Paul Rudd as Jon Lennon cracked up the entire theatre.

It was definitely one of those movies where you're recalling a lot of funny parts a day later. So while it may be a different type of movie than the Apatow groups' other work, the sense of funny is still there, and I think this is up there with the best comedies of the year.

Every comedy has its moments, and this Walk Hard doesn't have anything spectacular to make it stand out from all the other passable, but ultimately forgettable, comedies. John C. Reilly plays Dewey Cox, who is basically Johnny Cash... this is, after all, a spoof of a biopic.

First of all, the fake Southern accents were a bit much. It was cute at first, but it soon became a little grating and obviously fake. Judd Apatow co-wrote this, but I get the feeling that he's better at doing "realistic" comedies. There is absolutely no sense of morality or character development in Walk Hard, unlike in Apatow's previous movies. I'm not saying that every movie needs this, but I left the theater feeling like this could have been a ten-part series on SNL or something. Every switch in scene is just a set-up for another gag, and a lot of moments in Dewey's life are skipped over. Nowhere do characters actually have a conversation with each other for a reason that doesn't involve setting up a joke.

I know that John C. Reilly is the "main man," but Tim Meadows got the most laughs from me, including a continuous drug joke. However, absolutely no one laughed at the Incredible Hulk joke. I'm not saying all the jokes were bad, but the pacing of the whole movie was off. Huge chunks of Dewey's life get ignored; Dewey's life is missing a few scenes in my opinion.

But before I start getting too negative, I want to say that this movie has some very good jokes, and some good songs, although the hip-hop one was a bit too cheesy. I know a lot of work was put into the songs, and except for the aforementioned rap song, they were well put together. I know that Jewel (what a voice!) Ghostface Killah, Lyle Lovett, and Jackson Browne contribute to the title song "Walk Hard" (and I think Jewel sings for Jenna in the duet, although I could be wrong), while Reilly sings all of his songs well. Still, is this Spinal Tap? Not quite. The best song had to be the Bob Dylan spoof, followed closely by a clever little duet with Jenna Fischer. Jenna Fischer plays Dewey's main girl (he sleeps with 411 of them according to the tagline, but we don't really see many of them). Jenna does a pretty good job, but she doesn't get a lot of serious acting here anyway. It was strange seeing in a lot of cute dresses and hair styles. Definitely not the same Jenna you're used to in The Office, that's for sure.

Oh, and if you were expecting boatloads of "Cox" jokes, the whole middle portion of the movie was seriously lacking in them. I know that Walk Hard doesn't take itself seriously at all, but I got the feeling that if it did, I would have cared more about it. All in all, a slightly above average comedy.

I laughed once or twice when I saw the first ten mins of this, then had an obligation to attend to. Never saw the rest. But I picked it up on clearance last night for just a buck (!), and I can only say; even a dollar, was waaaaaaay too much to pay for this turd.

The entire "Watch how funny we make this next extremely unfunny scene!" thing is way dead. Every single gag feels like it was written down once and never improved; in the hope that the now-thoroughly irritating combo of the Apatow Barn of blunderers, and SNL 2nd raters would really push it over the top.

They don't. This is lifeless. It's a movie where comedy goes to die. As with all Sandler, Carrey, Apatow movies, the half-written humor is blended with conventional, sentimental touchpoints that don't belong anywhere near a comedy movie. (I thought we were mocking that.)

I thought this was a brilliant satire of the biopic genre. It was obviously borrowed from Walk the Line, but there was plenty of other stuff thrown in as well. It was a truly hilarious movie, including the scenes where the band members convince him to try the drugs, a scene with the Beatles, the variety show stuff and interviews, all the scenes with the title character smashing the sinks, and the Walk the Line spoofs. It was very well written with lots of great dialog. You will love all the cameos and other stuff. I guarantee it. This was a tailor-made role for John C. Reilly, who is perfect in and for the part, as is just about everyone in it.

*** 1/2 out of ****

"Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" made me laugh out loud. It's a sophisticated parody of music biopix. Some of its jokes might be too sophisticated for some viewers. "Walk Hard" earns its R rating. There is full frontal nudity, both male and female. This doesn't contribute to the laughs and should have been cut. It will alienate viewers unnecessarily.

There are several brilliant cameos, including a Beatles sequence that deserves to be watched more than once. The movie's satire of the concept that Jews control show business is hysterical.

After a while, even a series of funny jokes can become wearing; "Walk Hard" has no "realistic" narrative. It's all parody, and that can get a bit old, but the film is short, and funny throughout.

This is really awful from every angle. Somebody compares it to Spinal Tap and I urge you to dismiss the comparison straight off, its not even remotely close. Its probably mildly amusing if your maybe 11, if your any older then your in for a painful hour and half. I have no problem with this kind of comedy done well but what we have here is far from it. It is not even worth pointing out particular problems as there are no redeeming qualities to save it. I can't bring myself to write anymore on the subject, stay away from this and your life will be richer.

Its like a very poor mans Mighty Wind so if you got that you'll hate this.

This is a comedy movie intended for laughs. Come with your friends and popcorn and prepare to have a good time. This movie made me laugh throughout, even though the script wasn't well-written and some jokes were lame, old and used. The acting is OK but you won't really notice it since this is a comedy. Unfornately, it's a comedy that's been done many times before. Most of the jokes are very old or just do not fit, or the characters cannot accomplish their effects to the full (as in Judd Apatow's other hits such as "40 year old Virgin"). I was entertained though, had a good laugh, left the theater smiling. It wasn't CRAP, it's actually watchable (the entire movie), and no it's not a family movie :)