{"id":846,"date":"2008-05-16T21:10:35","date_gmt":"2008-05-17T01:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=846"},"modified":"2023-05-30T12:50:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:50:53","slug":"walk-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/walk-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Kasdan spoofs the musical biopic in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blogger finds most so-called biopics wanting. The two- to three-hour feature film format is more akin to an essay or short story than a book, and as such is ill-equipped to sum up the entire life of a human being in more than a string of highlights. Yet studios and filmmakers keep churning out parades of Classics Illustrated<\/em>-like films that seem to exist mostly to mint Oscars and Golden Globes based on actors’ abilities to imitate historical figures. The best of them ought more deservedly to be recognized for their abilities to create new characters from whole cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I reserve a special degree of hate for musical biopics; I’m looking at you, Bird<\/em>, Ray<\/em>, Walk the Line<\/em>, La Vie en Rose<\/em>, and El Cantante<\/em>! They all seem to be forged from the same template: troubled genius beset by addiction, and the woman that loves him anyway. Comfortingly, the existence of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story<\/em> proves I’m not alone in bemoaning this most pathetic genre. Walk Hard<\/em> touches on each cliche in turn: physical infirmity (Cox is tragically “nose blind”), drugs, disapproving parent, dead sibling, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
pssst… your bouffant is cramping my style<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At its best, director and co-writer (with Judd Apatow) Jake Kasdan’s Walk Hard<\/em> is a history of popular music and narcotics from the 1950s on. The chameleonic Cox evolves with the times, beginning as a diamond-in-the-rough Ray Charles type, breaking through like a young Johnny Cash, becoming a pop superstar Elvis Presley, passing through a Bob Dylan folkie stage, and ending up as a Brian Wilson, an obsessive pop genius unable to complete his unachievable masterpiece (like Wilson’s own notorious Smile<\/em>). The best running gag in the movie involves Cox’s succession of drug addictions (pot, cocaine, heroin, pills, and, well, everything…), which no doubt gave the MPAA a heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lest I sound like I’m praising the film for being clever, here’s the bad news. The self-proclaimed “The Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director’s Cut” DVD edition repeats the same jokes over and over. Its idea of hilarity is to repeat the name “Cox” as much as possible, which should give some hint as to the overall level of sophistication. Each character explicitly verbalizes and explicates the genre cliches and their own character types: the unsupportive starter wife, the doomed sibling, the venal music studio boss, and the disapproving father (whose refrain “The wrong kid died!” follows Cox through his life as both curse and motivation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical celebrity cameos are repeatedly signposted with their full names, lest anyone in the audience not catch on that the batch of four candy-colored lads from Liverpool noodling on sitars in an Indian ashram are, in fact, The Beatles. It is great fun, however, to see Jack Black, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Rudd, and Jack White do their best Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
The 70s were a decade of taste and restraint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One little quibble: as the characters age, the makeup jobs are actually too<\/em> good, far better than, say the outrageously silly age makeup for Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind<\/em>. This unfortunately ruins the genuinely funny gag that John C. Reilly plays Cox as a teenager with no attempt to hide his age. Why not carry it through to the end, with Reilly looking exactly the same when Cox is supposed to be 70?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does anybody remember when Reilly was a serious actor? I’m happy for him that he’s no doubt building a significant nest egg off his recent string of lowbrow comedies (Talladega Nights<\/em><\/a>, Step Brothers<\/em>, etc.), but I hope we will see more of the fine actor of Sydney<\/em> (aka Hard Eight<\/em>), Boogie Nights<\/em>, and The Hours<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blogger finds most so-called biopics wanting. The two- to three-hour feature film format is more akin to an essay or short story than a book, and as such is ill-equipped to sum up the entire life of a human being in more than a string of highlights. Yet studios and filmmakers keep churning out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[1115,245,1062,968,1117,1118,146,1116,1119],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-biography","tag-biopic","tag-jack-black","tag-jack-white","tag-jake-kasdan","tag-jason-schwartzman","tag-john-c-reilly","tag-judd-apatow","tag-paul-rudd"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/walk-hard-dewey-cox-45.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-dE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":915,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/be-kind-rewind\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":0},"title":"Jack Black and Mos Def are misfit auteurs in Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind is a more mainstream effort than the personal and heartfelt The Science of Sleep, but still imbued with his signature handmade style and many of his particular (some might say peculiar) obsessions. The premise is brilliant in its simplicity: a pair of misfit doofuses accidentally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Be Kind Rewind","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/be-kind-rewind-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/be-kind-rewind-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/be-kind-rewind-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/be-kind-rewind-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/be-kind-rewind-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1812,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/milk\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":1},"title":"Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s Milk","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Any friend of this blog will know that I almost universally hate biopics. As I've complained in my reviews of Control, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and even Walk Hard, I believe that the feature film is fundamentally ill suited for biography. One seemingly minor lesson from college that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sean Penn in Milk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/milk-sean-penn-featured.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1017,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/control\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":2},"title":"Love Will Tear Us Apart: Anton Corbijn’s Control","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Control is one of the very few rare musical biopics to ever appeal to me, even though I am only passingly familiar with the music of Joy Division, and even less so of the history of its tragically doomed lead singer Ian Curtis. To testify to the film's power, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/control-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/control-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/control-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/control-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/control-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":809,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/im-not-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":3},"title":"Todd Haynes deconstructs Bob Dylan in I’m Not There","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I always find it interesting to ponder my preconceived notions of a movie after I've actually seen it. The marketing and buzz on I'm Not There mostly centered on two talking points: the quirky device of multiple actors all playing incarnations of Bob Dylan, and Cate Blanchett being just plain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I'm Not There","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/im-not-there-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":747,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":4},"title":"Oi t’ink Tim Burton’s up to summat in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone who's ever had the misfortune of a conversation about movies with this blogger is no doubt aware that I like musicals about as much as I like biopics. That is to say, not at all. I do, however, love Tim Burton, and count Ed Wood among my personal favorite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1248,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/w\/","url_meta":{"origin":846,"position":5},"title":"Oliver Stone skips over the defining moments of George W. Bush’s life in W.","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the same issues with Oliver Stone's W. that I do with every biopic. As virtually every feature film biography attempts to do the job of a book, they inevitably fall into the same trap: they become highlights reels that merely illustrate key moments in a real-life figure's life,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/oliver-stone-w-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/oliver-stone-w-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/oliver-stone-w-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/oliver-stone-w-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/oliver-stone-w-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8688,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/8688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}