ViewGuide

Created Apr 01, 2018 12:03AM PST • Edited May 06, 2018 01:24AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   John C. Reilly’s Walk Hard plays like a feature-film SNL skit, all the more because many in the large cast are SNL players, including Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows & Chris Parnell. Weekend Update never arrives, but you half expect it to. Often funny yet strivingly ambitious, Walk Hard’s reach well exceeds its grasp.

   Nominally a parody of Walk the Line, Walk Hard is more a satire of the entire school of rock. Sex & drugs & rock-n-roll, communing with the Beatles in India, claiming to care about “the people” when you’re an entitled asshole: Jake Kasdan & Judd Apatow’s flick touches all the sordid bases. Johnny Cash is their primary target, but Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jim Morrison and – yes – the Beatles also inform the satire.

   Bottom Line
   -——————-
   Walk Hard is worth clicking Play for rock fans of a certain age, of which I’m one.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   John C. Reilly is as awesomely talented as he is shockingly unhandsome for a moviestar, albeit his lack of the right profile is part of the satire. Anyway, singing and dancing a jig are among his talents on display.

   Supporters

   • Jenna Fischer parodies Reese Witherspoon from Walk the Line.
   • Raymond J. Barry mugs as Johnny Cash’s hard-ass father, with Margo Martindale as Ma Cox.
   • Kristen Wiig is less funny that she usually is as a country star’s put-upon wife.
   • Tim Meadows is so dry as to be unfunny as The Drummer. It falls to him to inform the Star about each temptation on his trail of ruin.
   • Chris Parnell is likewise unfunny as The Unappreciated Band Member.
   • David Krumholtz is obnoxious as The Agent.
   • Harold Ramis, Simon Helberg, Philip Rosenthal & Martin Starr defile themselves as anti-Semitic caricatures of religious Jews.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.9

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Supernatural 4.0

24. Physical Glib 1.7