Saw Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story over the weekend and laughed my….lower rear part of my anatomy off. This is one of the funnest films I’ve seen all year. It is a bittersweet, yet ultimately uplifting mock biopic of Dewey Cox, a ficticious pioneer of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Patterned mostly after the Johhny Cash film Walk the Line, it also veers into taking a few swipes at Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Roy Orbison. The story follows Dewey, who after a tragic machete accident that killed his brother, tries to gain his father’s approval by becoming the greatest musician of all time. Along the way he has several marriages, goes in and out of rehab and eventually is honored by the music community in his golden years, meanwhile his father is continually poping up at every victory to remind him that “The wrong kid died.” The basic plot follows every major biopic made in the last ten years, poking gentle fun at al the cliches that the genre has created for itself with slapstick, double entendres, and the Airplane! style literal joke. And through it all John C. Reilly does an amazing thing. In this two dimensional comedy he makes Dewey a three dimensional character. For all of his faults with drugs, women, and a certain obliviousness about how he hurts people (when his second wife finds out he’s still married to the first wife he says, “I forgot”) he actually makes you care about the man. No wonder he got nominated for a Golden Globe. My favorite bits are the little jokes. I love the way every famous character has to be referred to by their full name so you know who they are, “You’re right Paul McCartney of The Beatles”. I also like how adult actors are playing teenagers and say their age constantly to remind you how old they are and then to show the passing of time they simply wear a wig and refer to their new age, “Yes, it’s me, your second wife Darlene at fifty.” Oddly enough for a comedy about a musician, with the exception of the sixties protest songs, the music isn’t comedy material. Let’s Duet gets a few laughs for it’s clever double entendres, but can also be enjoyed as a straight ballad. Hold My Hand, Guilty As Charged, Beautiful Ride, and the title track are all perfectly crafted songs that could have been made in their respective eras (though his jumpsuited disco performance of Walk Hard does make you giggle). And for fans of Chicago, it comes as no surprise that Reilly has got a decent set of pipes on him as he sings all of the songs himself, patterning his voice after which ever singer he is spoofing at the time. I would now like to comment about something that all the critics seem to be geeting bothered by in the film. There is a scene in the movie where Dewey has been partying and there are naked women everywhere. He is sitting on the floor talking on the phone to his wife. Suddenly a band mate enters the shot to ask him a question and there on the screen is …um…his junk. Sure, a cheap laugh, but critics have been focusing on it like it is some kind of major scandal. Lighten up! If women can be seen with all of their jiggly bits exposed, it seems only fair that a guy should be shown flopping in the breeze as well.
Archive for December, 2007
This blog is something of a dream come true for me, and a major realization. Growing up I can remember when At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert first came on the air. I was flabergasted, people actually get paid to watch movies and then talk about them. I had fantasized about being a movie critic for years, but it never really seemed a viable career option. I never told my parents about it, the lectures I had already gotten about my TV consumption growing up had killed any notion of confiding that little tidbit of a inner desire. My broadcasting teachers in college didn’t exactly dissuade me from such a goal, they do what they always do, try to focus me on a more viable career. My more viable broadcasting career never materialized (though I did have a shortlived radio station on line until money got too tight), yet here I am now talking about movies, just without the being paid for it part. In looking at great film critics like Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, and James Berardinelli; I’ve come to statling revelation about myself. I can never be a critic, I don’t like the right kind of movies. Given the choice between Grindhouse and Juno, I’ll take Grindhouse. As for classic films, if given the choice between The Seventh Seal and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, I’ll knock people down to get to Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, while conversly I’d trample little old ladies to get away from The Seventh Seal. Heck I think I’m about the only person on the planet that actually liked Hulk (A mutant killer poodle? Now that’s entertainment!). So as much as I would like to be able to sit at the adult table of film criticism, I just can’t bring myself to eat my cinematic vegetables.
When it comes to cool theme songs everybody has a favorite; Shaft, Halloween, James Bond, the list goes on. But for me, the coolest theme song ever is Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn, with its driving base line and blaring horns. Many others must agree as it’s been covered more times than just about any other song. A short list of artists includes Ray Anthony, Duane Eddy, Bobby Hackett, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (with Rick Emerson’s synthesizer being the whole show on that one), The Blues Brothers, The Art of Noise (with Duane Eddy), and even The Monkees. An unreleased version from their Headquarters album sessions was finally released some ten years ago on a reissue of the album. It is a psychedelic romp that has to be heard to be believed with Mike Nesmith doing some….interesting steel pedal guitar work in place of a jazzy horn section. Heck, even Bruce Springsteen’s Pink Cadillac is really just a remake with lyrics added, right down to a spine shiver inducing sax solo from Clarence Clemons. The best use of the song has to be in The Blues Brothers as they are walking to their rundown rooming house, with the song stopping and starting as part of the joke when they escape the first of Carrie Fisher’s many attempts on their lives. If Jake and Elwood hadn’t been cool enough already by this point, their stoic, dead pan reactions with that music pumping underneath cemented their ubercoolness to movie fans for all time.
