{"id":19056,"date":"2022-11-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19056"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:11:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:11:51","slug":"review-weird-the-al-yankovic-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-weird-the-al-yankovic-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story<\/em> belongs in that movie-parody subgenre \u2014 the sincere spoof \u2014 that\u2019s been frustrating me ever since members of the MTV sketch show The State<\/em> began making comedies just like it. (A State<\/em> alum actually makes a brief-but-brutal cameo in Weird<\/em>.) Oh yeah, they\u2019re over-the-top madhouse movies, complete with absurd dialogue and even more ridiculous sequences. But it\u2019s done in an oddly earnest manner, with the filmmakers telling a sympathetic story and filling it with cute chaos that makes the whole thing offbeat \u2014 in every sense of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fans of the beloved comedy-pop icon \u201cWeird\u201d Al Yankovic may already know that he did a very funny mockumentary<\/a> about his life way back in the \u201880s for Showtime. But since we live in the age of the rock \u2018n roll biopic, where pop legends get their stories told cinematically \u2014 in the most grandiose, self-congratulatory way possible \u2014 you know Yankovic had to jump all over this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practically acting like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story<\/em> didn\u2019t already roast these films all to hell 15 years ago, Weird<\/em> also presents a story of a pop legend who grew up with a father (played here by Toby Huss) who strongly disapproved of his son\u2019s musical aspirations. (BTW, Julianne Nicholson plays Weird Al\u2019s mom, making this the second movie in mere weeks \u2014 this is the other one<\/a> \u2014 where she plays the mother of a tormented celebrity in a flagrantly questionable biopic.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As young Al grows up to be adult Al (played by Daniel Radcliffe, rocking the glasses, Hawaiian shirts, and perm with pride), the rise to fame comes fast and fallaciously. As he becomes a star making parody versions of hit songs (with vocals supplied by Yankovic, who also plays one of the record moguls who sign him), it doesn\u2019t take long for the sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll lifestyle to send him through that eventual, downward spiral. Most of this is courtesy of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), who this movie claims was Yankovic\u2019s manipulative girlfriend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s just one of the straight-up lies Weird<\/em> dispenses with deadpan glee. Among the other tall tales: \u201cEat It\u201d was an actually an original work and it was Michael Jackson who ripped Yankovic off with \u201cBeat It;\u201d \u201cAnother One Rides the Bus\u201d was created on the spot when Yankovic was challenged by Wolfman Jack (played by a very tenacious celeb) at a star-studded pool party; and Yankovic briefly becomes a skilled assassin, going toe-to-toe with his biggest fan: Pablo Escobar (Arturo Castro). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankovic, along with co-writer\/director Epic Appel (who did a fake-movie trailer test run<\/a> for Funny or Die \u2014which also produced this \u2014 years ago) crafts a heavily untrue story that doesn\u2019t wink at the audience so much as it just assumes viewers will already understand this is bullshit. They unabashedly rip off whole scenes from The Doors<\/em>, Boogie Nights, <\/em>and, believe it or not, that Steven Soderbergh B-movie Haywire<\/em>. But they do it in a rhythmically off-kilter fashion. They have scenes of sheer lunacy going on for far too long, buttoning it with a sentimental moment near the end to show how, even though this is all shits-and-giggles, it\u2019s done from the heart. Cameos from fellow, famous comedy weirdos briefly provide the balls-to-the-wall nuttiness Weird<\/em> lacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeing him come with the cutesy nonsense of Weird<\/em>, I wish Yankovic would\u2019ve given with the same zero-fucks gusto he gave to UHF<\/em>, that 1989 TV satire I personally believe is one of the most underappreciated comedies of the \u201880s. I mean, if he\u2019s gonna shoot fish in a barrel and give us another rock-star biopic parody with Weird<\/em>, the least he could\u2019ve done was come with the chopper and really do some damage.\u00a0\"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is streaming Friday on the Roku Channel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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