Film Review: Weird - The Al Yankovic Story (Roku)

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature
Violence Mature
Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

Alexander Pope once wrote an epic poem called The Rape of the Lock.  It was about an incredibly stupid incident that happened in noble court where a nobleman cut off a lock of a noble lady's hair without permission.  This turned into a huge scandal.  Pope wrote the poem with utter seriousness to highlight the utter absurdity of the story.

And that is what we have with Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Co-written by Yankovic with director Eric Apel, this is a movie that is directed with the deadly seriousness of an Oscar-bait musical bio-pic.  The framing, the lighting, the story beats, and the camera movement is treated with absolute style and control.  This is then juxtaposed to hilarious stupidity of the script, and I mean that as a complement.

This is not a biopic.  This is a "Weird" Al parody of a biopic.

The movie centers around Yankovic (Daniel Radcliffe) as he rises to stardom with the help of his mentor, Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson).  In real life, Yankovic has a wonderfully pleasant and normal personal life.  That is not what we get in this movie.  As he rises to power, he yearns for the approval of his overbearing parents Mary (Julianne Nicholson) and Nick (Toby Huss).  This forms the emotional core of this silly story where Al tries to fill the emptiness of their support by turning to the chanteuse Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) as he strives to be taken seriously while ruining his other relationships on a journey of self-destruction.

Anyone who has a movie like Bohemian Rhapsody or The Doors will recognize the structure.  What makes this movie work so well is that Apel and Yankovic have cracked that code and did not compromise on either the seriousness or the silliness.  This is exemplified in an early scene where a teenage Al (David Bloom) is talked into sneaking out to a party by friends.  When they get there, Al is horrified to learn that he has been tricked into going to a Polka Party: teenagers in lederhosen going through albums of their favorite polkas, as we all know teenagers do.  Al is pressured into playing the accordion, where he finally reveals his secret polka skills to the delight of his peers and the shame of his parents.

One of the delights of any musical biopic is the chance to revisit the classic songs.  I have been a huge "Weird" Al fan for as long as I can remember.  I even saw him in concert back in the 80's!  Listening to his original tunes brought me back to my childhood, whether he was singing "I Love Rocky Road" or "Another One Rides the Bus," I kept waiting for the next song with nostalgic delight.

Radcliffe is very good as Yankovic.  He never quite gets the voice, but one of the things he nails is Al's reaction face.  One of the keys to "Weird" Al's humor is that he not only creates absurdity, but he reacts to absurdity with wide-eyed intensity, surprise, and sometimes horror.  Radcliffe completely commits to the intensity of this performance every bit as much as Ramy Malik did when playing Freddie Mercury.  This helps absolutely sell the tone of the film.  He isn't playing the real Al Yankovic, but this fictionalized version of the character, which works perfectly well.

The supporting cast is excellent.  Wood plays Madonna perfectly.  She is not trying to do an impersonation: she is playing a parody of Madonna who has a very specific story function.  She is a femme fatale, the Yoko to Al's John Lennon.  Nicholson and Huss are perfect as the parents whose performances are as layered as they are ridiculous.  There is also a great deal of stunt casting with cameos from stars like Jack Black, Conan O'Brien, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and even Yankovic himself.  

My main criticism of the film that is that the middle is not as good as the beginning and the end.  Because they are locked into the biopic formula (with a diversion into 80's action/violence), it sometimes feels like you are waiting for the story to tick certain boxes before it can move on to the next part.  We have to watch as Al descends to rock bottom before rising up.  If the movie sustained the same intensity of humor throughout, it would not be an issue.  It is not that the middle is bad, but the movie hits you hard out of the gate with big laughs and to me the finale was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.  During the end credits montage, I had to stop the movie because I was laughing so hard.  The ending really hits home what kind of movie this is.  The film just cannot sustain that same level in the middle section.

Big fans of "Weird" Al will also delight in some of the aspects of the film that seem made-up but are actually true, like Al recording his first single in a public men's room.

This is definitely a movie for people who love "Weird" Al.  It carries with it the same level of craziness as his criminally under-appreciated feature film UHF.  At the very least, I hope this movie reminds people why "Weird" Al Yankovic is a musical treasure.