Premise: The Weird Al Yankovic biopic we should've all expected.
I love Weird Al Yankovic. He's the first music act I ever liked and I never grew out of it. And part of what I've come to love about him is how uncomplicated he is as a public figure. By all accounts, he's just a good dude. He's been famous for four decades without a scandal. There aren't whispers about diva behavior...
[Note, I went on for quite a while after this about how much I love Weird Al. I eventually stopped myself and deleted it since it got me very off track. Instead, I'll just leave it as this. If you don't like Weird Al, that's fine. Different tastes and such. If you think you're above Weird Al though, you're wrong]
That's what makes Weird: The Al Yankovic Story so much fun. Weird Al is a man who seems physically incapable of taking anything about himself too seriously, so of course a movie about him is going to be non-sense. This movie is a blast. It's one giant tongue-in-cheek joke and they don't run out of people who want to be part of it. I adore how Daniel Radcliffe has handled his post-Harry Potter career. He got international fame and riches from those movies. Ever since, he's followed all of his weird whims and impulses. He's not great casting as Weird Al in any physical or mannerism way. He works because, like Al Yankovic, he has no vanity about this.
The way I feel about this movie is the way I feel about Weird Al music. You have to know the joke to get the joke. To many people, Weird Al is just the parody guy and Weird: The Al Yankovic story is just a Funny or Die Sketch that goes on too long. To fans who appreciate his ingenuity and creativity, this movie captures the spirit of listening to a Weird Al album. While it's not strictly callbacks to different jokes or songs, the movie really captures the spirit of Al Yankovic. I was relieved to see Yankovic has a writing credit on the movie, because it was uncanny how well the film mimicked his tone.
I don't know that this movie is great. It may only be for the fans. I'm a fan and I really enjoyed it.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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