by Daniel Berman
Staff Photographer

The latest in a long line of biography comedy epics is “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” a fairly funny take on an already tired movie genre.

“Walk Hard” follows the story of Dewey Cox, an unsuccessful musician with a troubled life at home, looking for a new start. The comedy takes off as Cox, a shallow representation of Johnny Cash incarnate, travels around the world performing his unique brand of music. The film works as a parody of ‘Ray’ et. Al, and includes many actors familiar to the SNL crowd, Tim Meadows and Chris Parnell, as well as Jack Black, a perennial favorite. What ultimately sets “Walk Hard” apart from its peers is the music that is featured in the film, which is just as filled with innuendoes as it is devastatingly funny.

The movie shows Cox in various time periods, represented by cultural icons such as a swaggering Elvis in the 50s and The Beatles in the 60s, One scene even imagines Cox dropping acid with the quartet. In each decade, Cox seems to reinvent his music and sound. By the end of the film, Cox has sung everything from punk rock to traditional country. The film’s music is actually catchy and several days later, I caught myself crooning the title track.

Numerous films are released each year that make savvy filmgoers yawn and yearn for more intelligent works–and when Dewey Cox advertisements were initially aired, I was still looking. But all-in-all, the music in this film and the creative time traveling made for a fun evening, even if it was on the long side at two hours. See this film if you are a fan of dumb comedies with a glimmer of intelligence that manage to snatch their genre and run with it.