Extreme, Raunchy 2000s Comedy Threatens To Undermine Entire Industry

Written by Robert Scocchi | Published 32 seconds ago

The time of baseless conspiracy theories. 2007 Walking Hard: The Dewey Cox Story It is not available on streaming because it has the potential to destroy an entire industry if it is readily available for anyone to watch. What industry, you ask? music biography industry. It’s a cynical parody with its stories and beats so concise and simplistic that it threatens to undermine award-winning films like bohemian rhapsody, Completely anonymousAnd more recently, the Jeremy Allen White Springsteen Project, Save me from nothingness.

As a musician who absolutely despises music biographies, I think I have a solid and completely unbiased argument here. Every resume is exactly the same, without fail, and Walk hard He deconstructs the entire genre through parody. Any casual viewer who watches a Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan vehicle before watching a “project” biopic will simply decide to turn away from the genre. You can’t take movies like Dirt or Walk the line Seriously yet Walk hard It reveals the true extent of its formula.

The power of effective parody

I was working with a guy who was also into Motley Crue, in the sense that he celebrated extraordinarily the entire catalog. When 2019 Dirt It dropped on Netflix, and he ranted about it for a week. I, a musician, at the time could take or leave music biographies, I watched them on his recommendation. I felt endlessly angry, and not just because Dirt It tries to reframe some really disgusting behavior as a hero’s story, but it’s because of how reductive the storytelling is. It’s as if the band came from nothing and became stars overnight, all nuance stripped away.

It may sound like I’m writing this Walk hard Article just so I can rail DirtThis is partly true. The problem with Dirtand the genre it’s in, is that there’s a lot of jumping back and forth between the timeline that tries to honor the musicians while playing like a VH1 episode Behind the music. Nikki Sixx runs away from home, sits in an apartment with his bandmates, plays one concert, and then conquers the world. There’s sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Then tragedy strikes. The band reaches a low point. They have falls. They reconcile. They then prepare for their triumphant comeback concert while real footage of the band plays over the credits.

That’s the problem with music biographies. Pick any biopic from a random pool, and it will lean into the same cliched beats without any deep cuts. It’s actors masquerading as rock stars, giving viewers a Wikipedia summary of a decades-long career in less than two hours. It’s a collection of biography that doesn’t fit into this format if you’re a die-hard fan of the artist. Musical autobiographies are cinematic coffee table books, and Walk hard He thrives in this context.

Hard walking rundown

For the sake of my own argument, I won’t give you the full rhythm details Walk hard Because if you’re someone with eyes and ears, you already know what’s going on. Dewey Cox, played by John C. Reilly, is about to make his final comeback, so of course he has to think about his whole life before he hits the stage. It’s a carbon copy of Walk the line The opening sequence, which is so deliberately arrogant that you’ll never watch the film, once again sneers with a straight face.

We learn how Dewey accidentally cut his brother Nate (Chip Horms) in half with a machete, giving us the “haunted by his past” angle every biopic needs. Dewey, who never gets over it, is reminded by his father (Raymond J. Barry) that “the wrong son died” every time they appear on screen together. Dewey teaches himself to play the blues in one evening, and seven years later he is portrayed as 14 years old, although he is clearly just John C. Reilly without makeup to make him look younger.

Like a true biopic, things keep escalating

Dewey meets Jewish record executives and gets his big break. He almost laughed as he walked out of the recording booth but decided to record his new song “Walk Hard” as a Hail Mary attempt at a hit. The band behind him had never heard the song before but were asked to follow suit, which instantly created perfect harmony because everyone suddenly knew the words and chord changes. Theo (Chris Parnell) takes his guitar for a walk, while Dave (Matt Besser) plays the guitar like he’s been practicing it for years.

Dewey Cox becomes a household name, but drummer Sam (Tim Meadows) feeds him drugs with warnings like: “You sure don’t want this, it’s so good it’s going to ruin your life.” Dewey takes drugs and his life is ruined. Dewey marries his second wife, Darlene (Jenna Fischer), without any thought for his first wife at home, Edith (Kristen Wiig), to whom he is still married and has children. It continues like this. But don’t worry, there will be a triumphant ending because it’s a musical autobiography.

So it destroys the resume

Walk Hard: Dewey Cox The story quietly destroyed the entire genre upon release. Although it was a critical success, it was a commercial failure, grossing $20 million at the box office against a budget of $35 million. But the damage has already been done. Now celebrated as a cult classic, it’s easy to see why Walk hard It has stood the test of time. No musical biopic released since can be taken seriously because John C. Reilly was aware of the undertaking. He’s the embodiment of the media-friendly, well-regarded biopic, and his commitment to the part directly undermines the impact of any “true story” created to play like the greatest hits.

While there is no way for me to prove this conclusively Walk hard The streaming is being taken down to protect the studio’s investment in current and upcoming music biopics, which I’m sure is why it’s hidden behind a paywall to deter viewers from spending money when they’re already subscribed to 10 other streaming platforms.

Dewey Cox is a certified killer, and Freddie Mercury, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Elvis Presley are all in his crosshairs. As of this writing, you can’t stream Walking Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. If you want to validate my theory, you can rent or purchase it through Amazon Prime Video, Fandango At Home, and YouTube.