Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm running out of steam a bit... very tired, but I got some more goodies to run before I crash. Here's an early review of the new comedy from producer (and co-writer) Judd Apatow, directed (and co-written) by Jake Kasdan and starring John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer called WALK HARD. I really, really like ORANGE COUNTY, also directed by Kasdan and I trust Apatow implicitly now. And having two great and truly funny leads adds that final level of comfort for me. I can't wait to see this one myself and I have a feeling from the below mixed/negative review that I might be of a different mindset than the reviewer. I do like Will Ferrell type humor, which this movie apparently has in abundance. Anyway, here's the review. Enjoy!
Hey AICN, First time contributor long time reader. Tonight I attended a packed screening of Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan's new movie Walk Hard. The movie basically follows the same lines as Ray and Walk the line. Throw in a little of the Beach Boys story, a little Bob Dylan, some Beatles a good amount of drugs and sex, stick it in the blender and you have the basic plot of Walk Hard. To be perfectly honest I am not the biggest fan of Will Ferrell-esque comedy. It's just not my thing. But if you do, you're probably going to like this movie. What I liked? Well, for starters, all of the leads carry their own weight. John C. Riley does a fine job as Dewey Cox. I only felt that I was actually watching an actor instead of the character twice, and one of those times I am sure was intentional. I would not be surprised if he also sang the songs in the movie. Jenna Fischer who plays Darlene, the love of Dewey's turbulent life does excellent work also. The cameos were handled well and came at the appropriate times. Jack Black steals the funniest scene in the movie, I won't tell you which one. Also the music, even though it was a parody, was well played. What I didn't like? Pretty much everything else. My main issue with the film is that it was something of a one trick horse. The same jokes were recycled again and again without any real change. Dick jokes can be funny. However, with the main character named Dewey Cox they never stopped. There were a couple of other jokes that were centered on main plot points that were basically unfunny after the first and second time around, never mind the fifteenth or sixteenth. This probably could have been helped with a little tighter pacing. I'm guessing that we were one of the first test screenings and I am sure that there will be editing to come. But as it stands now the movie is around two hours and it dragged in quite a few places. I normally like long movies but I found myself looking at my watch towards the end. Speaking of the ending, the ending feels a little out of place with the rest of the movie. It gets just a little too serious and maybe just a tad sappy. The one other thing I would like to note would be that some of the musical numbers play just a little too long, but like I said I'm sure most of that will be taken care of by the time the movie is released. Overall I felt like I've seen pretty much all of this movie in other films. In a couple scenes it seemed as if Riley was just imitating the over the top style that Will Ferrell has down so well. Unfortunately, at the end I really felt that I had not seen anything new or interesting. Personally I didn't like this movie much at all. However, I'm sure that there will be others who think this is hilarious. If you like Talladega Nights and Anchor Man there's a good chance you will think this movie is hilarious. If you didn't really get those movies, stay away. Thanks so much for reading If you use this call me: Achilles
