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Four out of Five stars
Running time: 96 mins

Enjoyable, well made and frequently hilarious comedy with strong comic performances, a sharply observed script and some superbly written songs.

What's it all about?
Produced by Judd Apatow and taking its primary cues from Walk The Line and Ray, Walk Hard is a musical biopic spoof that stars John C. Reilly as fictional singer-songwriter Dewey Cox. The film follows Dewey's progress according to all the usual musical biopic conventions, from a tragic event in his past that led to him losing his brother, his father's love and his sense of smell, through fame and fortune in the 1950s and '60s and his subsequent battles with addiction that led to the collapse of two marriages.

The Good
John C. Reilly is hilarious in a role that could easily have been played by Will Ferrell - his dumb, blank-faced sweetness works perfectly here and ensures that Dewey remains likeable even when the fame starts to go to his head. There's also strong comic support from Jenna Fischer (Pam from The American Office) as Dewey's second wife, backing singer Darlene and from Tim Meadows as his bandmate who keeps getting him hooked on different drugs.

The script is extremely well written, ensuring that there's a decent laugh in every scene. The musical biopic may be an easy target, since it's so heavily cliched to begin with, but the script mines terrific gags out of Dewey's Dylan-esque protest song period (with songs about justice for midgets) and in particular the movie's high point, when Dewey visits an ashram and meets the Beatles (four hilarious cameos that are bound to feature heavily in future film quizzes).

The Great
As Beatles spoof The Rutles showed, the success of a musical pastiche stands or falls on the quality of the songs themselves and fortunately, the songs are comic masterpieces, whether it's Dewey's signature song Walk Hard or the amusingly bawdy duet between Dewey and Darlene (In my dreams you're blowing me…some kisses.).

Worth seeing?
In short, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is an extremely funny comedy with strong comic performances, superb songs and a script that's packed with laugh-out-loud gags. Highly recommended.