Pages tagged “john c reilly”

Director: Adam McKay

Writers: story by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and John C. Reilly, screenplay by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay

Cinematographer: Oliver Wood

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott

Studio/Run Time: Columbia Pictures, 95 mins.

Ever since he left his starring role on Saturday Night Live for superstardom in film, Will Ferrell’s many characters have been criticized as being pretty much all the same. They’re overgrown children, unable to cope with the world. Step Brothers’ strength is admitting this and turning it around into the premise for the film. Other than childishness, there is pretty much no other aspect to his character, Brennan Huff, or John C. Reilly’s Dale Doback, to the point where they’re literally beaten up on a schoolyard by bullies. It’s no longer about being an overgrown child as a racecar driver or news anchor; instead, it’s back to the basics and better because of it.

Jake Kasdan
Interview by Jesse Jarnow

Taking a break from their tender post-Farrelly brothers comedies, the members of the Apatow Cartel aim even broader with Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. John C. Reilly stars as the parodying, pun-inducing Cox, who traipses from cliché to cliché, with an occasional bout of full-frontal dudeage. With a soundtrack of trope-perfect homages that range from Bob Dylan to Brian Wilson, the film itself plays for slapstick.

Release Date: Dec. 21
Director: Jake Kasdan
Writers: Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan
Cinematographer: Uta Briesewitz
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows
Studio/Run Time: Columbia Pictures, 92 mins.

Coming off a string of successful films, the word "Apatow" is becoming synonymous with "hit." This time around, Judd Apatow (the man who's worked on Superbad, Knocked Up and Anchorman, to name a few) has co-written (with the film's director Jake Kasdan) a satirical exposé about biopics like Walk The Line and Ray. In making a film like this, a writer is held to the ultimate Spinal Tap test, requiring that the project must be turned to 11.

Although Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story claims to be a spoof on biopics and their extreme depictions of music artists, biopics' exaggerations are a reflection of the frailties and eccentricities of the artists which they profile, so it's hard to distinguish a satire about biopics from a satire about musicians. Regardless of what category the film falls into, Walk Hard does not really tow the fine line of being clever so much as it provides a fun and absurd romp with heaps of laughs.

John C. Reilly, who plays rising and troubled music star Dewey Cox, skillfully presents a dopey-yet-conniving and shallow-but-sincere character with a heart of fool's gold. Looking something like Johnny Cash crossed with Tom Waits, Cox has multiple addictions, wives and musical phases. Aspiring to a level beyond greatness after he accidentally kills his brother by splitting him in half with a machete when they are young boys growing up in Alabama, Cox is compelled to compensate for the loss of his brother, leading to a life of excess and indulgence.

But Reilly isn't the only star of the film. Kristen Wiig shines as Cox's frustrated wife and the mother of their seemingly infinite amount of children. As Cox's other frustrated wife and duet partner, Jenna Fischer is superb. Tim Meadows is hysterical with a stand out performance as Cox's bandmate who can't seem to stop doing or introducing Cox to increasingly heavy drugs. Additionally, cameos from Jack White (Elvis Presley), Jack Black (Paul McCartney), Paul Rudd (John Lennon), Jason Schwartzman (Ringo Starr), Justin Long (George Harrison), Eddie Vedder, Jackson Browne and Lyle Lovett make the film even more ridiculous in a good way.

At times silly and a little too over-the-top in its attempts to prove itself, there is something charming about Walk Hard which is further underscored by its genuine love of music and affinity for musicians. It is also obvious from one of the first lines in the film ("Guys, I need Cox!") that this project neither takes itself too seriously nor asks the same of its viewers. Now, if those viewers can suspend disbelief appropriately, they will laugh hard.

View the trailer for Walk Hard:

Unsure whether you're psyched up for the new John C. Reilly film, Walk Hard? Or if it looks like another wannabe Will Ferrell comedy clone? Well, now you can find out the answer, at least partially, for free, as Columbia has released the first 10 minutes of it online at RockLikeCox.com/MySpace.

Or, of course, you could check it out below (go, go, gadget YouTube!):

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story hits theaters on Dec. 21.

Related links:
Walk Hard on IMDb.com
Paste: Michael Andrews - The man behind Walk Hard's soundtrack
Paste: Reilly touring America as Dewey Cox

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