Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
★ ★★ ½
Like his music, Weird: The All Yankovic Story is goofy, ridiculous and most importantly, fun. I grew up adoring Weird Al's music and humor. His clean comedy completely played upon my young sensibilities but also gave me a path to understanding what was popular in mainstream music. Anybody who grew up feeling uncool had to be in adoration of Yankovic's success. He made it seem possible to be a nerd and successful in life.
I had no idea what to expect from this "biopic" and I'm so happy that it subverted all my anticipatory expectations. I remember seeing VH1's Behind the Music on Weird Al back in the day and although his story is interesting, it definitely lacked the drama and trauma that normally lines the narrative of a successful band. When this project was announced, I even wondered what was worth mining about his story and it's absolutely amazing that the producers behind this movie knew that as well. What's the best way to tell a story about a musician who has made a living off of parody songs? A parody of a biopic, of course!
It's been a long time since there has been a good, stupid movie in the vein of the Zucker brothers or the Naked Gun franchise. If you think those movies are hilarious, you will fall in love with this story. Naturally, a movie that prey's upon absurdity and a punchline every thirty seconds will lack depth, and at some point, it's hard not to evaluate what's the point of all this foolishness. The jokes never let up, and though at some points it gets too relentless, I was surprised to find myself laughing as hard as I did.
This is a movie made of pure enjoyment and it's a joy to watch a cast that has completely bought into the tone of the story. Is Daniel Radcliffe the perfect "Weird Al"? Probably not, but isn't that the whole point?
