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Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

A frustrating movie…some funny parts, some lame parts…

• Structure/Plot

The fundamental problem is that the movie ties itself too much around Walking The Line (the Johnny Cash bio, good flick). That movie was not seen by enough people to make the specific jokes about it understandable. And even for those who did see it, what’s so funny about spoofing a small flick? And so repeatedly? It gave me the feeling the filmmakers set a low standard. Most of the first ten to fifteen minutes are loaded with those gags and that pushed many people out of the story when that’s the time to hook them in. (And once a person is out of a movie- especially from the start- it’s hard to get him back in.)

Some of the other humor is off for different reasons. Reilly playing Dewey as a 15 year-old is a cute idea, but it doesn’t work on screen. A bigger issue to me is the actors who play the famous musicians. The looks of Buddy Holly, Elvis and Paul McCartney are so exaggerated or just plain wrong that there’s no basis for comedy.

The music sounds great, but only one song is actually funny- Let’s Duet.

The Hasidim are cute the first time, as a throw-away joke, but they’re painful as regulars. It’s also another element too far from reality as secular Jews are part of the Hollywood scene, not Hasidim. Maybe it would work if they start secular and become observant over time… The movie seems to do the opposite as one of the Hasidim suddenly looks secular in one scene…whether they skip some of the sub-plot or it’s an editing issue or who-knows-what, it is confusing.

The penis. If the movie would be rolling till this point, then maybe the penis cameo would be funny…as a jab at scenes with famous men that only show naked women around them. The way I see it, it’s a desperate attempt to shock, to do something different just for the sake of it.

The Beatles scene.

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