Not completely terrible but ultimately a letdown

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2008)

Just finished watching Walk Hard (the uncut version) and my initial feeling is one of mild disappointment to be honest as I would consider myself a fan of Judd Apatow and his name is what drew me to it. That being said I don't think the film is a complete waste of time as there were some funny moments but no belly laughs that I have enjoyed with his other work. The film is overly long (okay I accept I was watching the extended version but that's only an extra 25 mins whilst I felt it could have lost around 40-45) and some of the jokes are repeated a bit too often such as the drug taking scenes (once was funny) which eventually I could predict happening. Some other reviewers have slated the way the music icons appearing such as Elvis and Buddy Holly constantly referred to themselves by name in the third person with one reviewer going so far as to say he knows who they are and doesn't need to be constantly reminded. This guy is missing the joke! The celebrities playing these people are so unlike their characters that it's necessary for them to remind us and its a knowing wink to the audience. The "cameo" by the Beatles is also highly amusing. This could have been a lot better but I think the combination of too many pointless characters given a large chunk of screen time (Deweys band and Darleen spring to mind) and the long run time, which seemed to mean lots of padding, lets this film down. Quite funny in some places but my criteria for recommendation of any film is whether I'd give it a repeat viewing. In the case of Walk Hard, sadly, its a No.