| Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster, parodying aJim Morrison pose | |
| Directed by | Jake Kasdan |
| Written by | Judd Apatow Jake Kasdan |
| Produced by | Judd Apatow Hunter Baumann Clayton Townsend |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Uta Briesewitz |
| Edited by | Tara Timpone Steve Welch |
| Music by | Michael Andrews |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million[2] |
| Box office | $20.6 million[2] |
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a 2007 Americanmusicalcomedy film directed byJake Kasdan, and written by Kasdan and co-producerJudd Apatow. It starsJohn C. Reilly,Kristen Wiig,Tim Meadows andJenna Fischer. A parody of thebiopic genre,Walk Hard is the story of a fictional country music, rock and roll, and folk star played by Reilly.
Walk Hard primarily references the musical biopicsRay (2004) andWalk the Line (2005); in addition toRay Charles andJohnny Cash, the "Dewey Cox" character includes elements of the lives and careers of other notable musicians includingRoy Orbison,Glen Campbell,Bob Dylan,Jerry Lee Lewis,Donovan,John Lennon,James Brown,Jim Morrison,Conway Twitty,Neil Diamond,Hank Williams,Sonny & Cher andBrian Wilson. The film portrays fictional versions of artistsBuddy Holly,the Big Bopper,Elvis Presley, andthe Beatles; some artists appear as themselves, includingEddie Vedder,Jewel andGhostface Killah. In addition, the film parodies or pays tribute to the musical styles ofDavid Bowie,Billy Joel,Van Dyke Parks,the Gun Club, and seventies punk rock.
The film was released in North America on December 21, 2007. It received positive reviews from critics but was a box office disappointment, grossing only $20 million against a $35 million budget; it has since become acult film.[3]
In Springberry,Alabama, 1946, young Dewey Cox accidentally cuts his brother Nate in half with amachete. His father blames him for Nate's death and the trauma causes him tolose his sense of smell. Dewey meets ablues guitarist who discovers his life experience instilled in him a natural affinity for playing blues.
In 1953, Dewey performs at a schooltalent show and drives the crowd wild with his song "Take My Hand", and his father kicks him out of the house, calling it the "Devil'smusic". A 14-year-old Dewey leaves Springberry with his 12-year-old-girlfriend Edith; they soon marry and have a baby.
Working at an all-African American nightclub, Dewey replaces singer Bobby Shad onstage and impresses Jewish record executive L'Chaim. While recording arockabilly rendition of "That's Amore", he is berated by an executive. A desperate Dewey performs "Walk Hard", a song inspired by a speech he gave Edith, which restores the executive's religious faith and rockets him to superstardom.
The song quickly becomes a hit and Dewey becomes caught up in the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. He soon performs his first concert as the following act toElvis Presley,Buddy Holly, andThe Big Bopper. Dewey is introduced tomarijuana by his drummer Sam and becomes unfaithful to Edith. Dewey's father informs him that his mother has died while dancing to Dewey's song and blames Dewey's music for her death.
Distraught, Dewey finds Sam usingcocaine and partakes, resulting in a cocaine-fueledpunk rock performance.Choir-girl Darlene Madison enters Dewey's life, and he produces several sexually suggestive hit records amid their courtship. He weds Darlene while still married to Edith, which leads to both women leaving him, after which Dewey purchases drugs from an undercover cop. After he serves time in prison and in rehab, Darlene returns.
They move toBerkeley, California in 1966 during thecounterculture movement. Dewey's new singing style is compared to that ofBob Dylan, which he angrily denies despite his new songs and style clearly imitating Dylan’s. On a band visit toIndia, Dewey takesLSD withthe Beatles, leading to aYellow Submarine-esque hallucination.
Dewey becomes consumed with creating his masterpieceBlack Sheep (a homage toBrian Wilson'sSmile). The band resents his insane musical style and abusive behavior and breaks up; Darlene, also unable to deal with him, leaves him forGlen Campbell. During another stint in rehab, Dewey is visited by the ghost of Nate, who ridicules his self-pity and tells him to start writing songs again.
In the 1970s, Dewey now hosts aCBSvariety television show but is unable to compose a masterpiece for his brother. Nate reappears and urges him to reconcile with their father. Dewey and his father wind up dueling with machetes; despite having trained years for this moment, his father cuts himself in half, forgives Dewey for Nate's death, tells him to be a better father, and dies. Dewey breaks down and destroys almost everything in his home.
Dewey is approached by one of his illegitimate children and decides to reconnect with his many offspring. In 1992, a divorced Darlene returns to him. Finally realizing what is most important, Dewey regains his sense of smell and remarries her.
In 2007, L'Chaim's son Dreidel informs Dewey of his popularity with young listeners throughrapper Lil' Nutzzak'ssampling of "Walk Hard". Dewey learns he is to receive a lifetime achievement award. They want him to sing a song at the ceremony, but Dewey is reluctant, fearing his old temptations. However, with his family's support, he reunites with his band and is finally able to create one great masterpiece, summing up his entire life with his final song, "Beautiful Ride", while also deciding against trying a drug offered to him.
A title card reveals that Dewey died three minutes after this final performance, which then also reads "Dewford Randolph Cox, 1936–2007". Apost-credits scene is a short black-and-white clip of "the actual Dewey Cox, April 16, 2002" (still played by Reilly).
I just had this idea to do a fakebiopic—or a real biopic about a fake person—and follow a musician's career trajectory.
Jake Kasdan brought the idea to his friend and fellow director Judd Apatow. They then began writing the film together.[7] Thetongue-in-cheek references in this fake biopic were drawn from various sources. Apatow and Kasdan noted that they watched various types of biopics for inspiration, including those ofJimi Hendrix andMarilyn Monroe.[8] Despite the humorous approach, the film was crafted in the serious tone of filmsearmarked for anOscar, adding to the irony.[9]
John C. Reilly, who actually sings and plays guitar, was chosen to play the title role. "We took the clichés of movie biopics and just had fun with them," Reilly said.[7] The "deliberate miscasting" of celebrity cameos, such asElvis Presley andthe Beatles, was intended to enhance the comedy.[10] The film's poster is a reference to the "young lion" photos ofJim Morrison.[11]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 141 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus states: "A parody that pokes fun at rock stars and reductive biopics alike, this comedy sings in large part because of stellar performances and clever original music."[12] OnMetacritic the film has a score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics.[13]
Roger Ebert scored the film three out of four and wrote: "Instead of sending everything over the top at high energy, likeTop Secret! orAirplane!, they allow Reilly to more or less actuallyplay the character, so that, against all expectations, some scenes actually approach real sentiment."[14] Peter Travers ofRolling Stone magazine wrote: "The tricky thing about parody movies is that the jokes get old fast and they're hit-and-miss.Walk Hard, a spoof of every musical biopic fromRay toWalk the Line, is guilty on both counts. How lucky that when the jokes do hit, they kick major ass."[15] A 2022 review of the best comedy films of the 21st century placed this at sixth.[16]
The film was not commercially successful, taking $18 million at the US box office which was less than the film's $35 million budget.[2]
John C. Reilly received aGolden Globe nomination forBest Performance in a Musical or Comedy and a nomination forBest Original Song.[17]
The film was released onDVD andBlu-ray on April 8, 2008.[18] In the opening weekend, 263,001 DVD units were sold, generating revenue of $5,110,109. As of May 2010, DVD sales had gathered revenue of $15,664,735.[19]
Along with a backing band "The Hardwalkers", Reilly made seven musical appearances as Dewey Cox in the weeks prior to the film's release date.[20]
Several fake commercials were aired including one withJohn Mayer, hinting Dewey might be his father.
Singer-songwritersDan Bern andMike Viola (of theCandy Butchers) wrote most of the film's songs, including "There's a Change a Happenin'", "The Mulatto Song", "A Life Without You (Is No Life at All)", "Beautiful Ride" and "Hole in My Pants". Charlie Wadhams andBenji Hughes wrote the song "Let's Duet".[3]Marshall Crenshaw wrote the title song, andVan Dyke Parks penned theBrian Wilson-esque 1960s-styled psychedelic jam "Black Sheep" (the recording session seems to be a specific parody of Wilson'sSmile album sessions, on which Van Dyke Parks worked).[7] Antonio Ortiz wrote "Take My Hand". A number of critics noted the unusually high quality of many of the individual songs on the soundtrack, how well they reflected the styles and times they were attempting to parody, and how well they stood on their own as quality compositions. The soundtrack was nominated for both aGrammy andGolden Globe Award and was nominated and won the Sierra Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society. John C. Reilly sang on all the tracks and played guitar on most of them.
Films directed byJake Kasdan | |
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