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Trust Weighted
Very Good
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98Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Good 3.0
John C. Reilly’s Walk Hard plays like a feature-film SNL skit, all the more because many in the large cast are SNL players, including Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows & Chris Parnell. Weekend Update never arrives, but you half expect it to. Often funny yet strivingly ambitious, Walk Hard’s reach well exceeds its grasp.
Nominally a parody of Walk the Line, Walk Hard is more a satire of the entire school of rock. Sex & drugs & rock-n-roll, communing with the Beatles in India, claiming to care about “the people” when you’re an entitled asshole: Jake Kasdan & Judd Apatow’s flick touches all the sordid bases. Johnny Cash is their primary target, but Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jim Morrison and – yes – the Beatles also inform the satire.
Bottom Line
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Walk Hard is worth clicking Play for rock fans of a certain age, of which I’m one.
Acting - Very Good 3.5
John C. Reilly is as awesomely talented as he is shockingly unhandsome for a moviestar, albeit his lack of the right profile is part of the satire. Anyway, singing and dancing a jig are among his talents on display.
Supporters
- Jenna Fischer parodies Reese Witherspoon from Walk the Line.
- Raymond J. Barry mugs as Johnny Cash’s hard-ass father, with Margo Martindale as Ma Cox.
- Kristen Wiig is less funny that she usually is as a country star’s put-upon wife.
- Tim Meadows is so dry as to be unfunny as The Drummer. It falls to him to inform the Star about each temptation on his trail of ruin.
- Chris Parnell is likewise unfunny as The Unappreciated Band Member.
- David Krumholtz is obnoxious as The Agent.
- Harold Ramis, Simon Helberg, Philip Rosenthal & Martin Starr defile themselves as anti-Semitic caricatures of religious Jews.