Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - R It's 1:36 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

John C. Reilly is Dewey Cox. Following an accident with a machete that kills his brother, Dewey, who can do no right in the eyes of his father, ventures off into making music, and we follow Dewey through his life of women, drugs, various music styles, and getting back to his roots. Sound familiar? It should because pretty much "Walk Hard" spoofs the biopics of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, "Walk the Line," and "Ray," respectively, but mostly follows the same path and story of "Walk the Line." Yup, Dewey pens his big hit, "Walk Hard," has a bunch of kids with his first wife, Edith (Kristen Wiig), then falls in love with Darlene (Jenna Fischer), continues making songs that top the chart, but all along is tormented by the memory of his dead brother and the hate his dad has for him.

And, oh yea, because the death of his brother torments him so, Dewey loses his sense of smell. At least he didn’t lose his eyesight, get it? Alas, as Dewey is entering his elder years, he comes to grips with his past, reunites with Darlene, gets his sense of smell back (who knew horse shit smelled bad?), and is honored at an award show where he steps back on stage with his band of now gray haired dudes for one last song, his masterpiece, "Beautiful Ride."

This is a hard movie for me to explain because I loved it, maybe because I’m a huge fan of "Walk the Line" and "Ray" and was able to get all of the jokes, but if you haven’t seen or appreciate those two films you may not get it. Alright, I take that back, there is one joke I didn’t get, a scene in a hotel room that I think is put there because of Mrs. Apatow (Leslie Mann), but we’ll probably have to wait for the DVD to find the explanation (or my not being lazy and do some searching, but that won’t happen). Anyway, from the running gag of Dewey finding his drummer, Sam (Tim Meadows at his best), doing drugs in a bathroom, to Dewey’s transformation from a Johnny Cash kind of guy, to a Bob Dylan kind of guy, to a Brian Wilson kind of guy, and eventually back to a Johnny Cash kind of guy, "Walk Hard" works the troubled life of a singer to the hilt, in a funny way. Also, as great as the movie is at poking fun at the music biopic, it takes it to another level with a batch of songs as entertaining, if not more so, than the movie itself. The title track, "Walk Hard" is a great little ditty, but "Let’s Duet" is really the show-stopper, reminiscent of the Red Peter’s classic, "How’s Your Whole… Family?"

Here’s the other tricky part about "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," and that is because it is from the mind of Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan, but it’s really different from movies we have come to relate with Mr. Apatow, namely hits like "The 40 Year Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," and "Superbad." I say different because the creativity is almost hindered a little by having to stick to the music biopic formula.

In any case I did like "Walk Hard," and for me it was a 4 star, actually, no wait, a 4 ½ star out of 5 star movie (blatant female nudity and my now being a Jenna Fischer stalker always help in my rating book). The problem is that I don’t think a lot of people will get it, nor will find the humor I did in simple things like John C. Reilly playing Dewey Cox at age 14, or Dewey owning a giraffe.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!