Bursting with positive energy, Weird The Al Yankovic Story is a charming comedy making fun of classic music biopics. Leave it to the master disrupter himself to disrupt another format. First, he disrupted the music world and now he fired shots at the movie industry. I think we can all agree now that Daniel Radcliffe grew up to be one hell of an actor. He proved this once again giving another stellar performance. We will also get the chance to see Rainn Wilson and Evan Rachel Wood. And hear a lot of great music. The movie I kept thinking of was Bohemian Rhapsody and that made every twist in the story or a cliche even funnier.
Drenched in eighties nostalgia, Weird The Al Yankovic Story will take you on a wild ride to prove that anything is possible. And while we did hear this story a million times before, it’s always good to hear it again. Mostly because we never fucking learn. And it’s always the same fucking story of parents not being able to provide the emotional support and tools needed to have a healthy life for their children. And I know that their parents fucked them over to but someone has to break this generational trauma.
I went through it, and all my friends went through it, whether they admit it or not, and probably you did too. And Al’s story is just a perfect amount of crazy and life-affirming to make you reach for the stars. And settle for the moon if that fails. But even the moon is better than the suffocation nothingness of “standard-issue life”. I know I went on a bit of a tangent now but as I’m seeing similar shit play out in real life, I can’t help but comment. This part in the movie is actually a parody of every music biopic but it still hit me hard.
Meet Alfred Yankovic, a creative and cheerful young boy who finally finds something he loves doing. And that’s playing the accordion, against his father’s wishes who wants Al to work in a factory. In the factory where he also works and has worked all his life. Determined to make it on his own, Al sets off on a journey of self-discovery.
Featuring fast pacing, rapid-fire jokes and excellent production values, Weird The Al Yankovic Story is a highly entertaining movie. There are so many quotable scenes although perhaps the best one involves a polka party. I only think they could’ve shaved off 15 minutes of sometimes unnecessary close-ups to make this movie truly snappy. Still, this is just a minor complaint in an otherwise exceedingly well-crafted movie.
Since Al isn’t as popular today as he was in the eighties or nineties, I wonder what the younger generations are going to think of him. Are they going to even care about someone like him? Or are they going to think that he’s lame and pretentious? And just know that Al is just as cool today as he ever was. This is what he said to a guy who inquired how to watch the movie in Australia since Roku isn’t available there: “Roku’s working on it. In the meantime there’s VPN (Very Probably No) way to watch it legally. I’m sure you have a TORRENT of other questions, but I have to move along, sorry.”
Finally, if you’re looking for movies like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story I recommend you start with not one not two but three Jack Black movies: Tenacious D, School of Rock, and The Polka King. Follow them up with Airheads, Wayne’s World and Detroit Rock City.
Director: Eric Appel
Writers: Weird Al Yankovic, Eric Appel
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rainn Wilson, Julianne Nicholson, Toby Huss, Richard Aaron Anderson
Fun Facts: Daniel Radcliffe actually learned to play the accordion for the film.
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17076046/
