Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: Reflections of a rolling stone in a fun house mirror

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2008)

Walk Hard; The Dewey Cox Story; here in referred to as (WHTDCS) by this author is this years Forest Gump (1994). Concider, Forest Gump is mentally challenged, his best friend Bubba has a speech impediment, Lt. Dan is a double amputee, and his girl friend Jenny, dies of AIDS, all in the span of 30 years. The era is almost the same for both films as well as the violence, adult language, adult content, sexuality, drug use, political activism, rock and roll and racial equality issues. Granted Forest Gump was rated PG-13 and WHTDCS is rated R for male non-sexual frontal nudity, and a bit more funny, adult content but this film was made 13 years later, in actual time.The title WHTDCS, may be more offense to the American public but with a film titled Knocked Up (2007) the gloves are already off. Back to comparing both films; when the public watched Forest Gump, they laughed out loud but as previously stated, the main characters were mentally retarded, confined to a wheel chair, an alcoholic, suffering from a speech disorder, and dying of AIDS! Yet, the film viewing public more often than not found this film a comedy, is it not strange to laugh at those less fortunate than most! WHTDCS is very much like the cast in Forest Gump; Dewey Cox (John C. Rielly) has no sense of smell, his lead drummer is a drug addict as well as the rest of his band and Dewey is forced to leave home at the age of 16! Satire allows the audience to laugh at a sad situation like Forest Gump and WHTDCS. In the early 1960's Monte Python's Flying Circus hit the airways of Public Television in The USA, America had found a new comedy. It was great fun to laugh at The British! All of their silly walks, Spam, Spam, Spam, etc.,etc.,etc., but we were laughing at our English neighbors, not at ourselves. WHTDCS is grand satire at America, and Americans may find that too salty a meal to digest. Director Jake Kardan has made a very funny film, a pun unto itself, with actor John C. Reilly in the lead doing stand-up. Sadly the box office does not reflect the gross product of Dewey Cox, however hard, he may walk.