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78
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69
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47
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86
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30
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45
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96
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35
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88
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71
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67
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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89
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81
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63
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73
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94
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29
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75
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83
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61
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70
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66
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59
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34
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xx
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54
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Play the Game
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Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
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76
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79
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40
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69
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64
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74
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69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 72 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Judd Apatow
Jake Kasdan
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 21, 2007
DVD: April 8, 2008
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language
Starring John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, and Kristen Wiig
America loves Cox! But behind the singer/songwriter's music is the up-and-down-and-up-again story of a musician whose songs would change a nation. On his rock-and-roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 kids and 14 stepkids, stars in his own '70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to--and then kicks--every drug known to humankind...but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon. (Sony Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Orange County The TV Set
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site View The Trailer
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
For 45 minutes, it zings along on perfectly pitched overstatement.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
Not since "This is Spinal Tap" have I had such a good time watching amiable idiocy stumble on toward uncertain glory.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
A pitch-perfect musical comedy that at long last moves the talented John C. Reilly up the billing ladder from second banana to top banana.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
This kind of parody is hard to sustain for an hour and a half, and "Walk Hard" does gets wearying at times. But the humor is so outrageous, the original music so much fun and Reilly so good - both while hamming it up in the role and in singing the songs - that it's irresistible.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
For pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
John C. Reilly, with his homely face and mop of curly hair, has been the movies' second banana of choice since his debut in 1989's "Casualties o War." In the comedy, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," he finally gets a starring role and he rises to the challenge.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
If you want to escape all the deadly serious fare of this pre-awards season, run to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.Why? Cox rocks. This rowdy spoof of music biopics is silly fun and often hilarious.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Reilly is required to walk a tightrope; is he suffering or kidding suffering, or kidding suffering about suffering? That we're not sure adds to the appeal.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie walks the line of surreal vulgarity (you will not, repeat not, expect the penis), yet most of it, intentionally, is less nutzoid than your average megaplex genre parody.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The first 30 or so minutes of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story condense the entire Hollywood biopic genre into a sweet chewable tablet. It's the Flintstones vitamin of spoofs.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
It should be noted that Walk Hard is aimed at a fairly specific sort of movie subgenre -- it's practically an extended "SNL" sketch -- and it doesn't produce belly laughs so much as steady smiles of recognition over how accurately it's nailing its target. But it really nails that target.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
The film is more funny ha-ha than LOL; it’s a smarty-pants satire that mocks and embraces almost every cliché in the biography playbook.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Walk Hard offers a quantity of laughs that few comedies could match, yet it's likely to leave viewers vaguely unsatisfied, particularly when the closing minutes completely run out of steam. That's the danger of spoofs: You're only as good as your last laugh.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton
It’s apparent that the sharp comic forces behind this epic are simply a couple of juvenile men who think it’s hilarious to show a man’s penis on screen just for the sake of itself. But the embarrassing truth is that, well, sometimes it is.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
When Cox is performing, the movie is firing on all cylinders.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
While it might not have the laughs-per-minute ratio of the "Naked Gun" movies (but then, what does?), it is a reliable titter generator for boomers and their echo boomlings.
Read Full Review >Premiere Eric Alt
So you'll laugh, you'll groan, you'll leave the theater singing "I'm gonna beat off….all my demons/That's what lovin' Jesus is all about" -- and isn't that, ultimately, a good thing? Yes.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
I loved both "Walk the Line" and "Ray," but it will be hard to watch either one with a straight face again after the skewering they get in this Judd Apatow production, which quotes scene after scene to hilarious effect.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The movie manages a couple of popcorn-spitting-funny jokes for each biographical decade the film covers, though typically it's no better than moderately clever.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
For those who enjoy the saturation style of humor and appreciate the way in which parody is not pushed too far into the absurd, Walk Hard is not without merit.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The tunes are so good, you can’t believe the film itself doesn’t amount to more, especially with the rightness of the casting. Still, a few laughs are better than none.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The tricky thing about parody movies is that the jokes get old fast and they're hit-and-miss. Walk Hard, a spoof of every musical biopic from "Ray" to "Walk the Line," is guilty on both counts. How lucky that when the jokes do hit, they kick major ass.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
Strums the genre for considerable laughs, with John C. Reilly playing the title balladeer from teen to senior citizen, generating enough goodwill to offset the flat sections and a decidedly juvenile streak.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Is Walk Hard” funny? Sure; very much so, in places. At least I think it is. It might just be the “Date Movie” talking.
Read Full Review >Empire Damon Wise
John C Reilly just about holds together a funny but patchy comedy that puts a ten-megaton bomb under the cliched rock biopic – and never detonates it.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Funniest in its first half, when you're not quite sure where it's going, and drags in the second, by which time you realize it's going nowhere.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Walk Hard runs down quickly, and suffers further from having the wide-eyed and weightless Reilly as its star.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
This burlesque of biopic clichés flounders from one setup to the next without the engine that drives the genre: a strong central character.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The best part of Walk Hard, oddl enough, is the music. I might not care to see Walk Hard" a second time, but I can't wait to hear it again.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Apatow and director Jake Kasdan deliver a fair number of laughs, though nearly every good idea is pressed into service as a running gag. The biggest disappointment is their survey of rock history, which has all the depth of a Time-Life book.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The film is a saggy, oddly mean-spirited takeoff of "Walk the Line."
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 72 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Shammy Sham gave it a10:
I laughed most of the time, shook my head for a few parts, but overall this movie was funny. I enjoyed it. especially the part..."and you never paid for drugs!" LMAO.
Mike R. gave it a5:
Some laughs, but pretty unfunny overall.
Pat P gave it a9:
It saddens me to see that this often hilarious movie is drifting into obscurity. Walk Hard is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time, and only suffers from the occasional slow section that just barely drags it out of the top echelon of raunchy comedies. If you are even marginally interested in this movie, check it out, and you likely won't be disappointed. Adequate litmus tests to determine if you would enjoy this movie include: 1) Did the title make you chuckle? 2) Do you enjoy other Apatow movies? and 3) Did you enjoy the comedic stylings of the comedy troupes The State or Kids in the Hall? If you answered yes to any of these, give this movie a shot, and spread the good word.
Robert I. gave it a6:
Over the top, not funny enough, and gross when it needs to be sharp, but the music's great and Reilly is ultra good.
Andy A gave it a9:
This is an in your face literal lighthearted spoof of some our music idols and us. The best and funniest I’ve seen to date.
Ryan M. gave it a2:
Turned it off after 43 minutes into it. Nice idea, good premise. Horribly written, terrible, almost kitschy acting. And cliche till it's pounded through your skull, leaving you angrily numb.
Sam gave it a1:
We turned it off after 10 minutes, good reviews for this must be funded. wow what garbage.
