Kinda refreshing, this brand of comedy that’s highly silly but still pretty sharp is sorely missed in movies nowadays, it feels like a quaint throwback. It’s very Austin Powers and Monty Python-esque, if that’s your thing you’ll probably dig it. The casting’s pretty much perfect, I’m very happy Daniel Radcliffe got to show us his comedic chops. It also looks pretty decent, especially when you consider that filmmakers usually don’t put that much effort into the visuals of these kind of comedies. Its biggest issue is that it sticks way too close to the general formula of musical biopics. This is pretty much another Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman, just with a stronger comedic angle. It’s more entertaining than both of those, but also not as clever and subversive as Walk Hard. Near the end it starts to let go of the tropes and becomes a lot more bonkers. The genuine emotional beats that it tries to hit don’t quite land (the occasional attempts at being Spielberg-y feel off to me), and it heavily overuses the writing trope of ‘stating something that’s clearly meant ironically for the audience’. Finally, I wasn’t a fan of the singing, the voice change and very obvious use of autotune are both very distracting for a movie that’s supposed to take place in the 80s (yeah sure, it’s a parody, but still). All in all, it does just enough for me, but I’d love to see the Mel Brooks version of this.
6/10
Weird Al brings us a suitably wacky satire of the sleazy tell-all rock’n’roll biopic, while also having some fun with his own squeaky-clean public image. In Weird, we learn all about his abusive childhood, his secret obsession with polka parties and Hawaiian shirts, his fiery encounter with Pablo Escobar and his many wild, drunken orgies with “Like a Virgin” era Madonna. It’s an absurd fiction, of course, no truer than his resemblance to a frequently bare-chested Daniel Radcliffe, but half the fun lies in those wild, increasingly drastic, departures from reality.
I had a vague memory of this idea in its formative phase, way back in the bygone year of 2010 (ancient history where internet memes are concerned), when a joke teaser of the same name was first posted to the Funny or Die website. Revisiting it now, I’m not sure the full-length treatment was necessary. That trailer hits all the essential bits in a mere three minutes, even a winking cameo from the real Weird Al as a snide record executive, and gets out before the joke can wear thin. That’s where I think Yankovic’s brand of humor works best - bite-sized - and why his songs (not to mention his first starring role, the manic UHF) have weathered the test of time. We barely get a chance to breathe before the scene shifts and we’re on to the next topic. Not the case with Weird, which leans hard into the trappings of the genre it parodies and leaves slack between the bigger laughs. It starts strong and finishes with a bang, sprinkling a wealth of surprise cameo appearances throughout, but I was left wishing for more consistency.
What you think you are going to watch and what you end up watching are entirely different things! Not that anyone should be surprised that a biopic about Weird Al is also a parody of the biopic of Weird Al! You think from the trailers that this will be a light hearted take on his real life, but when you watch other trailers that detail nonexistent things like his romance with Madonna (whom he had a crush on in real life) and ditching his band you start to realize that something is off.
I have to say that Daniel Radcliffe did a great job as Al, even if he is a bit short for the job. The movie is ok, neither great nor terrible, there are bits that keep you interested and others that get so outlandish that you cringe a bit.
I grew up with Weird Al being a right of passage for many artists so my interest was piqued as soon as I saw the first trailer. His songs were often stupid, but funny (what I call stupid-funny, which this movie also is) but his videos were pretty entertaining.
There's interesting history behind Coolio's fight with Al over Amish Paradise, where Coolio was totally against it once he heard it and really badmouthed Al about it but later recanted and said he was being an unreasonable dick and he liked the song now. This becomes a pretty interesting and funny plot in the later part of the film when his dad is exposed as a closeted Polka Amish guy in his youth.
You also get a LOT of celebrity look-alikes in this movie, which is funny on its own but it's particularly funny how many of those people in real life were real thorns for Al, like Prince who would never agree to let Al parody him despite Al requesting it many, many, times. Michael Jackson famously loved how Al parodied his songs, and that also gets reflected in a funny (and untrue) way in the film.
Overall, if you're a Weird Al fan then this is a must-see, if you never heard of him then it's still enjoyable but you'll miss some of the nuances in the movie.
Review by SkinnyFilmBuffVIP 8BlockedParent2022-11-06T17:06:12Z
The overall concept here makes sense. Weird Al is known for parody. So naturally, his biopic film should be a parody of the entire biopic genre, rather than some ho-hum, by the numbers biopic. Unfortunately, as a parody target, the biopic genre didn't work quite as well for me as the top billboard hits that Weird Al made his career parodying. The main difference being, the top billboard hits were exactly that, they were hits. They were catchy songs that everyone already knew and loved. By comparison, I never had much appreciation for the biopic genre, which often produces bland movies that leave me wishing I had just read the Wikipedia article. As such, even a tongue in cheek deconstruction wasn't able to overcome my lack of enthusiasm for the structure.
All of that said, there were plenty of solid bits and even some moments of genius that were enough to keep me watching. The highlight for me was the reversal they pulled with Michael Jackson's "Beat It". Clever and hilarious. The frequent cameos also offered some chuckles here and there. However, those cameos, along with the segmented structure of the film, gave off an extended YouTube/SNL skit type feel. Unfortunately, that type of humor is more palatable in short form, so the 110 minutes we got here definitely overstayed its welcome for me.