Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 21, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
For 45 minutes, it zings along on perfectly pitched overstatement. Read full review
90
TimeRichard 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
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael 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
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Smart and genial satire. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen 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
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam 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
75
USA TodayClaudia 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
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
75
New York Daily NewsJack 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
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
For pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley 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
75
Portland OregonianM. 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
70
The New York TimesManohla 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
67
The A.V. ClubScott 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
67
Austin ChronicleToddy 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
63
Rolling StonePeter 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
63
Chicago TribuneMichael 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
63
ReelViewsJames 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
63
PremiereEric 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
63
New York PostLou 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
63
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
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie 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
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
When Cox is performing, the movie is firing on all cylinders. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian 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
60
Film ThreatPete 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
60
EmpireDamon 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
50
Village VoiceJim 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
50
Washington PostAnn 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
50
Chicago ReaderJ.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
50
SalonStephanie 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
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Walk Hard runs down quickly, and suffers further from having the wide-eyed and weightless Reilly as its star. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The film is a saggy, oddly mean-spirited takeoff of "Walk the Line." Read full review
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