“Weird Al” Yankovic stands just a few feet away from success and next to a few hot dog buns, when the eureka moment occurs for him again. At a party packed with the real Yankovic’s spiritual influences–including Andy Warhol, Gallagher, Elvira, Tiny Tim, Devine, and Pee-Wee Herman–the ascending parody artist is challenged to show his skills on the spot, to come up with another parody. With his accordion at hand, the handfarts of his fellow bandmates as well as a suitcases supplying drums, Daniel Radcliffe’s take of “Weird Al” turns Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” into “Another One Rides the Bus,” singing Yankovic’s vocal with the same ferocious energy as Eminem battles to live In “8 Mile.” It’s one of the many sarcastic moments of genius that the biopic, however it also has BBQ guests Salvador Dali reacting, “‘Weird Al’ will change everything we know about art!”
Whatever way you interpret this remark, it’s from an ideal scene in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” an edgy pop music phantasmagoria that’s self-less and enjoyable. Written by the director Eric Appel and “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Weird” summarizes the elements that have made Yankovic an influential force in the Billboard charts from the 1980s and creates one of the most entertaining films of the year.
The storyline in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is an original joke that is the product of an entertainer who is self-deprecating looking at a funhouse mirror. Yankovic was a renowned accordion player due to the door-to-door salesman. Madonna (played in this film in the film by Evan Rachel Wood, relishing every chew of bubble gum in a comically villainous character) requested that Yankovic take on her hit song “Like a Virgin,” which led to the creation of the song “Like a Surgeon”; Yankovic recorded songs such as “I Love Rocky Road,” “My Bologna,” and the Michael Jackson parody “Eat It,” showing that parodies can make a difference in a constantly changing music industry. The giddy excitement that is “Weird” is the rollicking ways to get to these themes, while mocking the authenticity of Yankovic’s character. In reality “Weird Al” does not drink excessively, use hallucinogens, or tear off his Hawaiian shirt in front of the camera to expose the six-pack. This is a hilarious version it, and acts as a means of keeping the humility of the person “Weird Al” truly is.
The film is filled with bizarre contrasts. Take Yankovic’s loving parentswho have seen as the bitterly inspiring source for his fame. The father (Toby Huss) insists that he take the life of “at the factory” (a humorous continuous joke) and is compelled Yankovic to become an affluent accordionist (his mother who is played by a sexy Julianne Nicholson, purchased the instrument for him in secret). This is a flawed base for comedy. it is a source of sweetness for young Al and an hilariously outrageous reaction such as the first joke of the boy triggers his father to shout, “What you’re doing is confusing, and evil!” However, it does get an unintentionally close resemblance the lines of “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” an prior musical biopic that was the mainstay of such a genre behind The Tortured Great Musician, which always begins with an elusive parent acceptance.
However “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” contains a lot of its own thoughts that break away from the real story with passion. The break occurs right around the time Yankovic receives guacamole that has been laced by LSD by his mentor in real life the Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) and, during an acid-induced journey, he composes a song called “Eat It,” which is the true Yankovic along with Will Forte (as smarmy executives) later confirm to be “100% original.” The song’s success transforms “Weird Al” into the most popular artist in the world ever, and People consider him to be as the “Sexiest Man Alive.” When Oprah (Quinta Brunson) interview the singer, he wears miniature platinum records on his neck.
A storyline about “Weird Al” wanting to create only original songs is particularly inspiring, since Yankovic has an abundance of songs that are extremely knowledgeable parodies of bands’ entire discography. They do not play on radio. In this particular version, “Weird Al” believes that only songs that are original will inspire people to take him seriously for his talent. This requires rewriting the history of pop music to be able to achieve that.
The script is filled with incredible fakeouts and downplays. instead of slipping away because it feels like it’s expanding it’s “Funny or Die” skit roots, its plotting typically moves in a zig-zag pattern and then speeds up to the max for 10 minutes. “Weird” beats the accusation of being “a feature-length version of a skit” by not attempting to play the formal narrative style that has destroyed numerous “Saturday Night Live” movies and transformed the term into an euphemism of modern times. The editing, with beats influenced by “Airplane!”, builds into incredible pay-offs (a couple of them containing amazing references to what’s known as”hay boy”) “hay boy”). Even the ending is jaw-dropping, and hilarious. this is one of Yankovic’s greatest hilarious and wholesome jokes that he’s ever come up with. The credits at the end left me crying.
Radcliffe is flawless as Yankovic beginning with the actor’s control over his own visual image that has allowed him to be as captivating as a frightened corpse (“Swiss Army Man”). He is the reason the parody of Yankovic’s sleek image hilarious–the dazzling innocence that quickly becomes brash arrogance that is driven by the desire to impress his family and friends. It’s fitting that Radcliffe’s portrayal of Yankovic is thrust into an elaborate action sequence which explodes in the middle of nowhere with his physicality and game-nature contributing to the overall fun and fun. Radcliffe’s character is raunchy and yet doesn’t violate the anchoring ethos that lets Yankovic’s be healthy while letting its visual lyrics go to extremes. There’s no cussing.
All throughout, Radcliffe’s music performance in the role of “Weird Al” are lip-synced by the real Yankovic which makes the audience remember the reason we’re in this: a storyteller whose work is genuine, absurd, and respectful of viewers will be able to get the joke, and utterly loose. The darkest parts of Yankovic’s style — about bizarre delusions (“Good Good Old Days”) and extreme violent scenes (“The Night Santa was Crazy”) and the devastating loss of love (“You Don’t Want Me Anymore”) “)–are used to create humorous set pieces that tend to exceed your expectations. Fans, old and new seeking an accurate account of Yankovic’s life will have look up”Behind the Music,” or “Behind the Music” episode about Yankovic, (a collection of anecdotes from his almost unorthodox sobriety) or look up his work by Yankovic experts such as Nathan Rabin and Lily E. Hirsch.
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” does not contain the previously mentioned pieces of his discography. It typically only contains songs that are available from the best hits album that influenced the writer’s style many years ago. However, it’s more spiritually compatible and in tune with some of the most epic albums closings Yankovic has inserted at the close of his most recent albums, including the Frank Zappa homage “Genius in France.” As with how the nine-minute track (also self-deprecating) oscillates between various times and grooves with a constant zing and hilarious, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” lets the craftiness be the main focus. Yankovic retains only a specific sort in “Weird Al,” and still carries the same values that have kept his music so popular for so long the idea that making a (great) joke is a way of mastering the art of making a joke, and that being willing to be foolish is a wild but effective route to excellence.
