Cool News
WALK HARD, a musical comedy starring John C. Reilly and written by Judd Apatow, screens!!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
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
-
+ Expand All
-
I ask
-
And Orange County was great.
-
to buy Kasdan some kudos.
-
My Dad always used to say "never trust a fella with a beard".
I say "Never trust a fella who doesn't like Anchor Man or Seven Seas Of Rye by Queen"
There's the wisdom. -
AnchorMan was way too Stooopid and he has a head like a frowning turnip with pubes on, but he's a loveable big lunk.
-
i was working on a script review of this when the dreaded screening exchange invitation to see walk hard came into my box. i couldn't make the screening but i'm glad someone did and wrote in. what i would've said in that script review is that walk hard wouldn't be that good, and certainly not up to par with Apatow's latest work, the story is a parody of movies like ray and walk the line, yes, but it just wasn't very funny, there was no role for jenna fischer, it just seemed kind of lazy and half-assed. i mean, i'm an apatow freak but i know he wrote the script with kasdan over the phone, and tonally the film is kind of all over the place, you can just tell that they skimped on the thought and care put into this one. it doesn't feel like an apatow baby. it lacks his distinctive voice. and sorry to say, but as much as i LOVE john c. reilly, he's just not a leading man, and i don't think he ever will be. i acknowledge that he has comedic chops the likes of which his films have barely grazed the surface of, and casting him in the lead here was probably a bold stroke of genius, and i'm sure he gives a solid performance as always, there just didn't seem to be much on the page for him to work with, and he's not exactly a comedy natural like ferrell or carell or rogen. i don't know if it was the premise or the story or what, i'm just not surprised that this reviewer felt a little disappointed by this one, because that's how i felt reading the script. it's not what we know apatow is capable of, and the guy's created the high expectations i feel comfortable holding him to. i didn't see walk hard but the script and this review doesn't exactly make me want to. i guess no one's perfect, right, even though virgin and knocked up are pretty close...
-
I have heard 3 or 4 of them and they are the perfect balance of being parodies and being serious at the same time.
-
... from the script while shooting? Improvisation seems to be the order of the day on Apatow's film sets. Even though Kasdan was directing, perhaps he also gave his actors leeway to change up the dialogue and/or jokes as written on the page? We'll have to wait and see, but I can't really trust a review for a film containing Will Ferrell-type humour, by a reviewer who doesn't really enjoy those types of films, you know? Here’s hoping it works.
-
John C. Reilly is fucking Brilliant in Boogie nights (let alone any of his other broad range of films) and I believe most of his character and dialogue was improvised in BN...he's 10 times funnier than Rogen..and Rogen is no slouch...but he's he's no John C. either...give the motherfucker some credit and give this flick a chance...it's early and most of the time comedy gold comes from editing.
-
Never would have guessed.
-
...And their amps went to 11, bitches.
-
...you will find this movie hilarious.
-
Could be interesting. Reilly and Cohen were the only good things in Talladega anyway.
-
Even if this flick isn't that great or funny .Lets just be thankful that it is these group of guys that got together to make a parody of the Music Biopic . Before the fucking retards behind the Scary , Date and Epic Movies got the idea . What would they have called it . Music Movie ? or maybe
Troubled and poor childhood , while losing a family member but growing up to be a musical genius however the demons of drugs and alcohol affect love lives and family until finally overcoming said obstacles to be revered as a legend by all........ Movie .
-
the shooting script. I know the review was for the screening - by the way, these things take SHAPE after many, many test screenings - but mirajeff panning the project based on the script is a little shortsighted given how drastically the Apatow movies can evolve from that stage. After all the improvising it's a very different beast. Look at the 40 Year Old Virgin script and try to imagine that one shot as is - line for line - and it's devoid of a lot of it's final cut charms. I'm hoping for the best with this one but Apatow in the director's chair is really the only one so far out of this camp who can 100 % successfully sculpt his projects that way. The really sad thing is that Kasdan showed so much promise so early with Zero Effect -- and no matter how enjoyable Orange County is or TV Set or Walk Hard turn out to be, it's unlikely he'll ever regain the steady hand he had with that one where everything just seemed to majestically gel.
-
But at least to guy was honest about it. One dudes laugh riot is anothers comedic tumbleweed
-
Hmmm... wonder if we're related. And by the way, using the name "Cox" to make a cock joke is very original. (this coming from someone who's log in name is a take off of "horse cocks")
-
Don't read if you don't want to know! Jack Black appears as Paul McCartney while Paul Rudd is John Lennon. Rudd mentions this in a recent EW interview.
-
so how in the shit can you review the script and let it influence what you think of this movies chances at bringing the funny?
-
as I'm capable of.
-
you're all right about how apatow's films change drastically from the script because of how encouraged improvisation is on his sets, so yes it would've been unfair to slam the movie based just on the script, but i didn't slam the movie, i just said the script was kind of disappointing and not up to the admittedly high standards i have for a judd apatow script
with the cast walk hard has im sure it'll have more than a few laughs, i just don't know if reilly's talents (very funny in small doses) can carry the movie the way, say, ferrell carried talladega nights
i also thought reilly was hilarious in boogie nights but that was an indie drama with funny moments, not a broad studio comedy -
I'm just skeptical of any kinda comedy script review, as laughter is so relative to the individual. Putting that skeptacism together with a review of a script that will definetly change, I called BS. But good clarification. Good on you, sir.
-
Use to be this serious indie actor. I had no idea that guy had ANY comedic sensibilities until I saw Talladega Nights. That fool is seriously funny.
-
He was the producer. It is clear that Ferrell and MacKay don't have the same desire for the story to have heart as Apatow, and despite a poor role for Fischer in this, it can't be weaker than Amy Adams as the love interest in Talladega Nights. There is a huge difference between the films Apatow creates and those he has a hand in, however, they are all good.
-
Reilly can be a very entertaining actor, but I've never understood why people consider him a 'genius'. I remember watching a featurette on him on one of PTA's DVDs, where he's improvising on the set, and I didn't laugh once. It was awkward more than anything else.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 383 total posts 380 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 111 total posts 111 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 75 total posts 73 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 71 total posts 68 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 77 total posts 55 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 54 total posts 48 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 165 total posts 41 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 41 total posts 41 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 500 total posts 35 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 28 total posts 28 posts