When it comes to biopics, there seems to be a natural attraction to musicians. The rise from obscurity into the descent of the artist via "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" is so ubiquitous, the script practically writes itself. We've seen it time and time again with such movies as Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Rocketman (2019), and Elvis (2022). Because of this (or possibly in spite of it), the parody biopic of "Weird" Al Yankovic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) hits all the notes you'd expect of these kinds of films, but in a way that's so tongue-in-cheek, it's basically poking out the other side.
Having been a fan of Weird Al for some time now (and recalling his first movie, UHF (1989)), it is amusing to see how some elements of truth shine through in this mock-u-drama. Some of the casting choices were quite hilarious, including the cameos played by Rainn Wilson, Dmitri Martin, Conan O'Brien, and Jack Black. And while the overarching plot gets kind of silly with an almost Rambo-esque rescue of Maddona (Evan Rachel Wood), it plays off all the musician biopic beats perfectly to show how ridiculous some of them can be.
My only qualm with the film is that I had to watch it through the Roku channel. Sure, I'm glad it was free to stream, it's just that the Roku website and streaming interface weren't that great. My internet might not be the best, but I spent most of my time pausing and buffering the film. Meanwhile, every time it froze, the movie would continue silently in the background until the bandwidth caught up, skipping ahead recklessly and causing me to rewind to catch the part I missed. This frustration ruined a lot of my experience and I can't wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray so I won't have to deal with that issue.
A spot-on parody of musician biopics hosted on an unfortunate streaming service, I give Weird: The Al Yankovic Story 3.5 stars out of 5.
Having been a fan of Weird Al for some time now (and recalling his first movie, UHF (1989)), it is amusing to see how some elements of truth shine through in this mock-u-drama. Some of the casting choices were quite hilarious, including the cameos played by Rainn Wilson, Dmitri Martin, Conan O'Brien, and Jack Black. And while the overarching plot gets kind of silly with an almost Rambo-esque rescue of Maddona (Evan Rachel Wood), it plays off all the musician biopic beats perfectly to show how ridiculous some of them can be.
My only qualm with the film is that I had to watch it through the Roku channel. Sure, I'm glad it was free to stream, it's just that the Roku website and streaming interface weren't that great. My internet might not be the best, but I spent most of my time pausing and buffering the film. Meanwhile, every time it froze, the movie would continue silently in the background until the bandwidth caught up, skipping ahead recklessly and causing me to rewind to catch the part I missed. This frustration ruined a lot of my experience and I can't wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray so I won't have to deal with that issue.
A spot-on parody of musician biopics hosted on an unfortunate streaming service, I give Weird: The Al Yankovic Story 3.5 stars out of 5.