Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Shines Thanks to a Deadpan Daniel Radcliffe: Review

The post Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Shines Thanks to a Deadpan Daniel Radcliffe: Review appeared first on Consequence.

This review was originally published as part of our coverage of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

The Pitch: Based on the 100% true story of comedian/musician/renegade polka king’s rapid rise to superstardom, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is an “unflinching” look at “Weird” Al Yankovic’s chaotic life.

From his childhood as a closeted accordion player, to his brief flirtation with the hot underground polka scene, to his excessive rock and roll lifestyle to his artistic struggles, to his tumultuous romance for the ages with Madonna, and his deadly feud with a legendary drug lord, writer/director Eric Appel and co-writer Al Yankovic pull no punches. This is as real and serious as it gets.

Generic Blues: A fake biopic of “Weird” Al Yankovic is most likely a foolproof formula. How wrong can you possibly go with a series of goofy and outlandish scenarios executed in a general Weird Al tone? But Weird ups the stakes by applying Yankovic’s classic parody style—“to make up new words to a song that already exists” as Al and everyone around him earnestly describes the process multiple times throughout the film—to the Oscar-bait biopic.

All of the usual Big Moments are there: The misunderstood childhood with the disapproving parents and the longing for something more. The adolescent rebellion and early flirtations with freedom. The creative process struggles and moments of epiphany. The meteoric success. The booze, sex, and drugs, and finding out fame might not be all it’s cracked up to be. The big speeches and impassioned declarations. The reconnections and new understandings. There where-are-they-now text over the final scene. And they’ve all been turned on their head to the point of gleeful absurdity.

Young Al dreams of putting his own lyrics to other people’s songs and sings a stirring rendition of “Amazing Grapes” at the dinner table, but it’s lost on his parents, who tell him that ithey think “it would be for the best if you just stop being who you are and doing the things you love.”

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel)

Teenage Al sneaks out of the house to go to a raging polka party that gets busted by the cops. A discussion about labeled luncheon meats with Al’s college roommates leads to the creation of one of his early hits. Accidentally eating drug-laced guac inspires Al to write his first big original song, which is definitely his and was not written by anyone else first. And then things start to spin out of control with the Madonna romance, and the booze, and that whole obsession that Pablo Escobar has with him. But it’s nothing some heartfelt talks with fathers and father figures and an awards show speech can’t solve.

It’s a very playful piss-take, but the results are a pretty hilariously damning evisceration of the genre. Anyone who was hoping that enough time had passed since Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story to allow the serious, humorless musical biopic to return without shame will probably have to wait a little longer, thanks to Weird.

Dare To Be Stupid: What really sells Weird, though, are its thoroughly straight-faced performances. Daniel Radcliffe is rightfully generating buzz for playing this wildly outlandish take on Yankovic, with a commitment to the gimmick rarely seen outside of a 1980s pro wrestler keeping kayfabe. But everyone else in the film is on that wavelength, too.

Evan Rachel Wood’s blithe, gum-popping Madonna is a delight, while Rainn Wilson doles out bizarro wisdom like he’s playing a kindly father figure in a prestige drama with a message as Dr. Demento. Arturo Castro menacingly chews a bunch of scenery as Pablo Escobar. And Toby Huss absolutely throws himself into the role of the disapproving dad with a secret past that might eventually explain some things, barking through lurid descriptions of factory accidents at the dinner table and spitting out sneering condemnations of all of the terrible things the kids like. Like polka.

There’s never a wink or a moment of smug satisfaction. The entire cast plays extremely silly material completely straight for the whole 108 minutes. Which makes an already amusing premise exponentially funnier.

The Verdict: Weird is an unapologetically ridiculous and over-the-top romp that’s sold by people who are completely, sincerely, and unfailingly committed to the bit on every level. It’s not particularly groundbreaking or subversive, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s smart (or so silly it’s smart), expertly executed, and genuinely funny.

All but the most cynical and jaded should get the same rush out watching it that they felt when they got their first taste of a ‘Weird” Al track like “My Bologna,” “Like A Surgeon,” or “Eat It” as as kids and became convinced they’d never heard anything better or more gut-busting in their lives.

Where to Watch: Following its TIFF premiere, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will premiere exclusively on the Roku Channel beginning November 4th, 2022.

Trailer:

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Shines Thanks to a Deadpan Daniel Radcliffe: Review
Sarah Kurchak

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