For a man that’s spent the last 40 years parodying other people’s compositions, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story certainly is an original film that’s never afraid to dive deep into its, well, weirdness. Make no mistake though, this faux biopic is funny from beginning to end and will probably have many adding Weird Al’s songs to their playlists for weeks to come.
Comedy is definitely the order of the day in the Weird Al Yankovic Story, not just due to how the musician and its co-writer and director Eric Appel choose to tackle Al’s life, but also for how they play on the tropes of the typical Hollywood biopic, with Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis or Blonde being recent examples of that. If there is one thing to lament about this movie, is the fact that Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is getting a limited release because that’s exactly the way Roku wants it.
Perhaps the greatest strength in the entire film is how fast it gets the plot going with a quick rundown of Weird Al’s fictitious childhood setting up all the trauma the musician has to deal with once he makes it big time. All three versions of Al are great, however, Daniel Radcliffe is the actor everyone’s here to see and, fortunately, he delivers a fantastic performance that effortlessly surfs across the movie’s silliest moments and the more dramatic overtones Yankovic and Appel wanted to leave in.
Picking apart historical accuracy here makes little sense, nevertheless, it bears saying that the Weird Al Yankovic Story takes place in the 80s which helps establish some references and cameos included in the movie. Besides the real Weird Al, there are plenty of well-known faces such as Patton Oswalt, yet none of them come off as forced cameos, instead, they’re smoothly thrown in as part of Al’s bizarre parody world.
Whether it’s the moment when Weird Al comes up with his rendition of “My Bologna” or the absolutely 100% original song “Eat It”, these are some of the funniest scenes that help set the tone for the film’s brand of humor. That's not to say the music isn’t top-notch, because Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is coming out with a 42 soundtrack album that includes the film’s score, as well as re-recorded versions of some of Weird Al’s most famous songs.
The typical journey for a musician biopic usually goes: early life, musical upbringing, first big break, becoming a star, the pitfalls of fame, and then their untimely demise. Weird: The Al YankovicStory does not reinvent the wheel in that regard, but it does fine tune it to suit the needs of a movie, that simply has to take something and blow it completely out of proportion for what sometimes appear to be small comedy skits.
This is no coincidence as fans of Weird Al Yankovic will know the very idea for the films comes from a 2010 Funny or Die sketch where Yankovic originally played the same studio head he’s reprising here. That comedy bit featured Madonna, who’s played here by Evan Rachel Wood (Madonna) to great effect as the movie’s villain, the archetypical Yoko Ono-style but evil girlfriend who only wants to use Al.
Wood is a great supporting character, more so than any other in the film, as no matter how good they are in their respective roles, none come even close to Radcliffe in both screen time or presence. That's actually a good thing because, for a man who chooses so many odd movie characters, Radcliffe really shines in this movie playing one of the weirdest of them all.
If one is to be picky, the one element that hurts The Al Yankovic Story is when some jokes don’t land quite the same as others. For example, while the idea of Pablo Escobar being a Weird Al Yankovic fan is hilarious, stretching those plot elements to a full-fledged GTA action segment versus the cartel might be a bit of an exaggeration, regardless of how priceless it is to see Radcliffe (still Wolverine material though) donning a camo short-sleeved shirt.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is the type of comedy that’s become less frequent than ever to see nowadays, it’s absurd beyond explaining and that’s exactly its biggest strength, so it’s really a shame it’ll only be coming out on The Roku Channel, for now. As such, its ending is incredibly fitting to mock the way most Hollywood biopics tend to wrap up, only now making people wonder what parts really happened and which ones didn't in a very different manner.
Along the ride, fans and non-fans of Weird Al Yankovic will get to remember some of the singer’s most famous hits, performed by the man himself, with Radcliffe doing the parody of the singer who only wrote parodies ample justice. Is it perfect? No, but that’s not what the filmmakers set out to accomplish with this one, what Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will do is have people laughing for 2 hours straight and, maybe, provide a slight Yankovic bump to Weird Al’s songs this month.
WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story is currently available on The Roku Channel.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a comedy/documentary film featuring Daniel Radcliffe as the accordion-slinging comedic musician. In an exaggerated take on his life, the movie follows Al Yankovic’s early days and critical career points, including a tumultuous affair with a major celebrity, a domineering manager, and the various songs and performances that elevated him to stardom.