Entertainment, Movies - Air Force Times

Reilly brings goofy rocker Dewey Cox to life

Dewey Cox rocks. And drinks. And does drugs. And sleeps with any number of women. And fathers a boatload of children by them.

But most of all, he rocks.

As does John C. Reilly, who plays him in “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

It’s the role of a lifetime for Reilly, who plays Cox from a teenager to an old man (older actors playing kids are a running joke). He traces the history of rock embodied in one person, from Elvis through Dylan and the Beatles to Smile-era Brian Wilson to disco and punk and beyond.

If it sounds ridiculous, well, duh.

The latest comedy from Judd Apatow replaces the underlying sweetness of previous efforts such as “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” with a broad, out-and-out silliness.

But if it’s not as deep as those movies, which is kind of an odd but fitting word to use to describe them — it’s often every bit as funny. Reilly in particular is fall-down-laughing funny.

Dewey has the classic rock-star background, coddled by his mother but hated by his father for his part in a childhood tragedy, albeit a tragedy of the Monty Python variety. After discovering his talent as a musician and songwriter and finding success at a high school show, he sets out on the road with his girlfriend, where fate finds him fronting a band in a club the night record-company executives are in the audience.

In a fit of desperation in the studio, he cuts his signature hit, “Walk Hard.” From there it’s Rock History 101 combined with clown school, as Dewey both succeeds and falls prey to every wretched excess you can imagine.

Along the way Dewey finds love, after a fashion, with Darlene (Jenna Fischer), not letting a silly little detail like his current marriage deter him. He travels to India to mediate the now-bickering Beatles. In one of the film’s more inspired bits, Jack Black plays Paul McCartney.

“Walk Hard” has a certain style of comedy. Everything is announced, sometimes telegraphed. McCartney isn’t just Paul McCartney, for instance. He’s Paul McCartney of the Beatles, on almost every reference. If it sounds repetitious and stupid, that’s because sometimes it is. But it’s also hilarious.

Reilly, Apatow and real songwriters, such as Marshall Crenshaw, wrote several songs, including “Walk Hard” (a double-entendre-laden duet with Darlene is particularly funny), and real music stars show up to play them.

All part of the swirling, mercurial life of Dewey Cox.

Maybe you’ve heard: He rocks. h