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John C. Reilly in Walk Hard on DVDMore Laughs With Extended Version of The Dewey Cox Story
Nearly 30 minutes of additional footage add more story and more laughs to 'Walk Hard,' a clever parody of musical biopics.
Substance abuse, emotional abuse, dysfunctional families, sexual addiction, violent obsession, psychosomatic illness, and other forms of mental illness, criminal behavior, and deviant desires typically don’t elicit giggles, much less belly laughs, but Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story manages to make all of the above seem funny. John C. Reilly (as Dewey Cox) carries this film as an accomplished singer, dancer, and actor. He delivers an extraordinary performance here with a display of varying emotions, a gift for humor, impressive musical ability, and no qualms about doing whatever unflattering work is required of him to make the scene successful. The Dewey Cox StoryThe story begins with 71-year-old Dewey preparing to perform his ultimate masterpiece at a reunion concert. The rest of the film describes the flashback of his life that he experiences before going on stage that night. The flashback begins with young Dewey and his perfect brother playing around the farm until a tragic machete accident ends their fun together…forever. This accident shapes Dewey’s future personal and professional life, propelling him further as an artist, while simultaneously stifling his personal growth. This sad scenario sounds like something better suited for a psychotherapist’s couch than a romantic comedy, but at times Walk Hard can be quite romantic and nearly always comical. Dewey’s life story continues through the decades from the 1940s to the near present. His many friends (Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, Matt Besser), associates including Buddy Holly (Frankie Muniz), The Beatles (Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman, and Justin Long), and L'Chaim (Harold Ramis), and loves (Kristen Wiig and Jenna Fischer) drift in and out of his life over the years as he fights off his personal demons through drugs, sex, violence, and emotional meltdowns. “The Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director’s Cut”At 120 minutes, the director’s cut isn’t really unbearably long, although some of the extended scenes may fall into the self-indulgent category. This version contains additional flashbacks (within the one long flashback), some funny extended and deleted scenes, and an entire segment with Cheryl Tiegs, Patrick Duffy, Morgan Fairchild, and other stars of the 1970s. The sex scenes and male/female nudity are already so pervasive that any minor additions on the extended version don’t even merit a mention. Although unrated, the extended version should certainly fall under the same R category as the theatrical release. An entire segment about Dewey’s third marriage to model Cheryl Tiegs (which is only moderately amusing) never made it into the theatrical release. The other deleted material, however, remains quite funny in the same ironic, sexual-innuendo-laced style of the theatrical version.
For more information about Judd Apatow (Apatow Productions) films, read Superbad on DVD.
The copyright of the article John C. Reilly in Walk Hard on DVD in Romantic Comedy Films is owned by Leslie Halpern. Permission to republish John C. Reilly in Walk Hard on DVD in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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