Musician biopics have been an eclectic array of films swinging from the grounded realism of James Mangold’s “Walk the Line” (2005) to the flamboyant spectacle of “Rocket Man” (2019).
Every biopic possesses key hallmarks. A young misunderstood creative? Check. Miraculous sky-rocketing fame? Check. A tumultuous romance fueled by substance abuse? Check. The artist’s music played throughout? Check.
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” — which premiered Friday on the Roku Channel — hits all of these hallmarks in hilarious spades with a tongue-in-cheek parody of the very movie genre the film emulates.
Some of the elements are true-ish. Yankovic did have a meteoric rise to popularity in the ’80s and ’90s with his mix of polka and parody hits, but there are a few things the movie embellishes on, such as rescuing Madonna from drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The film stars Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”) in the title role with the real Yankovic providing both the singing voice as well as playing real-life record executive Tony Scotti.
Radcliffe shines in the role, bringing his crafted intensity while simultaneously having fun in every scene he’s in.
The highly exaggerated telling of Yankovic’s early life and career is hilariously co-written by the musician/comedian and the film’s director Eric Appel, who directed episodes of several sitcoms and web series over the last few years.
Other notable comedians lend their talents to the movie. Thomas Lennon (“Reno 9-1-1”) plays the accordion seller who provides Al with his first squeeze box and Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) plays famed radio broadcaster Dr. Demento. Even Conan O’Brian pops in as Andy Warhol.
Every scene is an absurd parody of the aforementioned hallmarks the biopic genre is known for; the toxic romance trope comes in the form of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld”) wanting a “Yankovic bump” to her fame with a parody of her hit “Like a Virgin.”
What stands out most about this movie is the fact that it was made on a modest budget of $8 million dollars despite having several household names attached to the project.
Rotten Tomatoes gave it an aggregated critic score of 85%; the average critic score was higher at 88%. It’s mostly well received and is one of the few comedies to come out in recent years that doesn’t rely on toilet humor to get its farce across to the audience.
The movie isn’t given a rating and while the language is more or less clean, there are some sex references and scenes depicting deliberate and inadvertent substance use.
If you’re a Weird Al fan or just looking for a legitimately funny comedy, it’s highly recommended that you get “Weird”… best part is that it’s available as free to stream.
