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Jake Kasdan, Walk Hard

by T.O. Lawrence
12/23/2007

It's the holidays. It's a time of shopping, singing and cheer. It's a time of family, love and forgiveness. It's also a time that makes you want to do hard drugs, have machete-fights with your siblings and sex it up with as many random women as possible. And you know what? I think Dewey Cox can relate. And when he relates, he relates pretty damn well.

Following in the footsteps of Spinal Tap and Hot Shots before it, Walk Hard is a parody colossal in scope and doesn't take well to subtlety. Cox (John C. Riley), a soulful Jewish singer with a troubled past walks the line of Johnny Cash (and just about anybody else with a Behind the Music feature) in his rise to success, his fall and eventual recovery. On this oft-beaten path, Cox gets trapped in the grips of drugs, fame and exotic livestock all in an effort to find himself through the haze that had become his life.

As you can tell, writer/director Jake Kasdan knows exactly what the people want and gives it to them. Hey, you like celebrity cameos? Here's Jack Black as Paul McCartney! You like random pointless action sequences? Here's a random machete fight! It's all EXACTLY what you'd expect in a parody, and God is it good and satisfying.

On top of Kasdan's writing you get John C. Riley, who just can't help but be amusing. Even in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and The Good Girl he always manages a laugh. Maybe it's his voice, his mannerisms or his freakishly deformed head, but this time he got a full-fledged comedy tossed his way and he plays it with all the goofy heart you could possibly hope for.

This isn't to say there wasn't plenty of other comedic talent on the roster. Former SNLer Tim Meadows cuts it up as the drug-peddling percussionist and Frankie Muniz makes a walk-on as Buddy Holly. Not to mention the entire scene with the Beatles which was one of the funniest renditions of the band I have ever seen in my life. Just for that, it's worth a quick rental.

Now don't get me wrong, here. This movie is not a masterpiece, but it sure as hell is amusing. It drags on a little bit and never bothers to make you think even once, but that's okay. It's not really supposed to. It's just supposed to make you laugh. And in that respect Mr. Cox has certainly "walked hard."

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