Review: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Reviews

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Easy jokes? Absolutely

By BRETT MICHEL | December 19, 2007

3.0 Stars

WALK HARD: John C. Reilly charms.

“Life made him tough. Love made him strong. Music made him hard.” His name? Dewey Cox. Easy jokes? Absolutely. But under the direction of Jake Kasdan (The TV Set) and the guiding hand of his producer and co-writer, Judd Apatow (Knocked Up and Superbad), this send-up of Walk the Line, Ray, and damn near every musical bio-pic ever made swings for the fences and makes it at least to third. Granted, we’re talking softball, but when John C. Reilly is your pitcher, you’re halfway to the pennant. Reilly’s Cox is an addled charmer who never met a drug he didn’t become addicted to –– prodded on by long-time bandmate Sam, gamely played by Tim Meadows (“Don’t do it!”) –– and then kick, or a hole he didn’t fuck. (Was that a penis on screen?) He also has no sense of smell, though that didn’t get in the way of his musical gifts. After all, he learned how to play “by ear.” Stupid? Sure, but laced with a strange sense of logic, like the gag that follows the end credits . . . 98 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs

Related: Rock and roles, Review: She’s Out Of My League, Silver linings on a dark screen, More

Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Movies, Judd Apatow, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 02/20 ] "Aphrodite and the Gods of Love" @ Museum of Fine Arts

[ 02/20 ] National Pancake Week @ Bristol Lounge

[ 02/20 ] "Portlandia: The Tour" @ Berklee Performance Center

ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL

REVIEW: THIS MEANS WAR | February 16, 2012
What promises to be a modern Jules and Jim (until you realize it's directed by a 43-year-old who calls himself "McG") quickly devolves into Spy vs. Spy territory, only with incompetently staged and edited action and little of that ol' Mad magazine zing.

REVIEW: THE VIRAL FACTOR | January 17, 2012
Made for a modest budget of $17 million — and feeling like it (who needs convincing explosions in an action movie?), Dante Lam's latest still gets the job done from a run-and-gun standpoint.

REVIEW: EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE | January 17, 2012
Too soon? For Stephen Daldry's 9/11 drama, the right time is "never."

REVIEW: THE DIVIDE | January 10, 2012
Many a teleplay for The Twilight Zone threatened atomic Armageddon, and though Frontier(s) director Xavier Gens nukes New York in the opening shots of his latest thriller, he finds more inspiration in the horrors of human nature as seen in the old TV show's episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."

REVIEW: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL | December 20, 2011
Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returns to the screen in dramatic fashion as new teammate Jane (Paula Patton) and the returning Benji (Simon Pegg) break him out of a Russian prison.

See all articles by: BRETT MICHEL

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

ANARCHISTIC AND SELF-TRAINED, ARE STREET MEDICS THE FUTURE OF FIRST AID?
April 25, 2009: outside of the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington, DC, police with batons are attacking a group of protesters.

HAVE YOU HEARD ANY GOOD WHITNEY HOUSTON JOKES YET?
Too soon?

WHY THE REPUBLICAN EMBRACE OF JUST ONE CATHOLIC ISSUE IS THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY
We like men in dresses as much as the next person.

MOVING ON WITH STEPHIE COPLAN & THE PEDESTRIANS
When Stephie Coplan was 14 years old, the empty pages in her first songwriting book were as much an escape as they were a creative outlet.

MAY YOU AND PORTLANDIA BE VERY HAPPY TOGETHER!
Thanks to Portlandia I now know way too much about you guys and your grody inner lives. It's not the show itself — it doesn't have that power. It's your horrifying enthusiasm for the show that has granted me this mirror.