Loony tunes

>> Judd Apatow and company skewer the
musician biopic formula in the lowbrow
but hilarious Walk Hard

by MALCOLM FRASER

With much respect to Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up and Superbad, it’s good to be reminded that Judd Apatow is also willing to make films that aren’t at all warm, sweet or humanistic, but purely intended for good old-fashioned, lowest-common-denominator humour. Such is the case with Walk Hard, a biopic parody that frequently verges into pure, absurdist Airplane territory.

John C. Reilly, after years of taking one for the team as a notable character actor, accomplished the not unremarkable feat of upstaging Will Ferrell in Talledega Nights. Here, he’s hilariously deadpan as the simple-minded farm-boy-turned-singer Dewey Cox. The film is roughly framed as a parody of Walk the Line (and some might be pleased to see the piss taken out of that clichéd, formulaic yet critically lauded hagiography), but it satirizes biopics in general, and pop music fads from the ’50s to today, with a sharp eye, a sense of humour that’s cynical without being mean-spirited and a surprising amount of full frontal male nudity.

Director Jake Kasdan, noted Hollywood offspring and Freaks and Geeks veteran, co-wrote the script with producer Apatow, and they have fun skewering the biopic formula. When a childhood flashback shows Dewey’s older brother sunnily declaring “Ain’t nothing horrible gonna happen today,” or when a recording engineer refuses to let Reilly sing one more song while acknowledging that it could become a hit that will change the world, you might hope that perhaps this evisceration of the biopic’s most grievous narrative sins will close the curtain on the stale formula and maybe even motivate a rethinking of the genre.

Jenna Fischer, best known to date as Pam from the U.S. Office, plays Darlene, the film’s take on Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, and she reveals a broader comedic talent (as well as raging cleavage heretofore hidden under frumpy sweaters). Tim Meadows flexes his well-honed satirical skills as Reilly’s drummer and multiple enabler, and several great comedic character actors drop in for cameos and small roles. The film has a few gags that don’t work, and absolutely no depth, but it’s funny as hell, so if you just want to forget your troubles with some laughs, this is a good bet.

Walk Hard opens this
Friday, Dec. 21

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