Apatow and Kasdan take the piss out of musical biopics in Walk Hard.
I’ve always been aghast at the overwhelming popularity of musical biopics. They are almost always trite, hackneyed, sensationalized and heavy handed. They play to the lowest common denominator, and almost always come off looking like an after school special.
And then they rake in the Oscar nods, Golden Globe nominations, MTV movie awards, etc. While I realize that award shows are more about who made lots of money and less about how good the movie actually was, it still makes my jaw hit the floor every time.
Let’s hope the curse that causes musicians to die as soon as someone makes a movie about them doesn’t also apply to actors playing fictional musicians!
Sure to follow is the always annoying rush to pretend that “I’ve always been the biggest fan of X artist, way before the movie came out!” There isn’t really anything worse than a bunch of housewives and douchebags lecturing you on the importance of Johnny Cash or Ray Charles, despite the fact that they have spent most of the year listening to Fergie or Avril Lavigne.
So it is a welcome development that someone, proven talent Judd Apatow and company no less, has decided to finally take the piss out of musical biopics. In the upcoming film “Walk Hard”, John C. Reilly adopts the likeness of a Cash-like rock star that Reilly describes as “an amalgamation of a number of classic musician stories, tales of excess, highs and lows and bad behavior.”
Although the film sometimes threatens to veer a bit too far into the field of corny parody, it seems to have good enough writers and guest stars attached to it. Hopefully this will keep it well away from being compared to the turds that the Wayans brothers have been dropping on our theater screens every six months.
Have a look at the trailer, and I’m sure that those of you who have tired of the formula will agree: It’s about goddamn time.
