Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
The Roku Channel | Release Date (Streaming): November 4, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 21, 2022
Weird is an unapologetically ridiculous and over-the-top romp that’s sold by people who are completely, sincerely, and unfailingly committed to the bit on every level. It’s not particularly groundbreaking or subversive, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s smart (or so silly it’s smart), expertly executed, and genuinely funny. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonNov 3, 2022
Radcliffe is winningly guileless in his performance, twitching his costume-y eyebrows and mustache like gentle bunny ears even as he lip-syncs “Another One Rides the Bus” with such commitment that his neck veins nearly pop. Read full review
90
UproxxMike RyanSep 10, 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story isn’t trying to be Walk Hard, strangely. It’s trying to be a movie co-written by “Weird Al” Yankovic and there’s just a certain THING about his comedy that’s hard to pinpoint but it’s actually weird, not “oh, this is the epitome of comedic genius.” Read full review
90
IGNRafael MotamayorSep 9, 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story does for the music biopic what the real Weird Al did for many a hit pop song: it makes fun of it, reveres it, remixes it, makes it weirder, and improves it. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNick AllenNov 4, 2022
A pop music phantasmagoria that’s equally egoless and entertaining. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgOct 17, 2022
The best thing about the film is the repeat viewing value. Read full review
83
UproxxVince ManciniNov 11, 2022
Weird is constantly riding that line between too-stupid-to-be-funny and so-stupid-it’s-hilarious. Read full review
83
Original-CinJim SlotekNov 1, 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a platform for comedy as a burlesque of drama, with enough winks, pop references and silliness to keep the premise going. Funny stuff. Read full review
83
PolygonJuan BarquinSep 12, 2022
It’s an extended work of parody art that’s actually funny, and an extended return to comedy from someone who is something of a master at it. Read full review
83
The PlaylistCharles BramescoSep 9, 2022
This whoopie cushion of a film raises the concept of the lowest common denominator up to the highest highs of esoteric tastes and in doing so, gets closer to the essence of artistry than all of its self-important, straight-faced forebears. Read full review
80
NMEAlex FloodNov 11, 2022
Radcliffe’s winning performance – like a goofy high-schooler who wins the lottery – is enough to keep everyone laughing. Top that off with an album’s worth of quirky cameos, including Conan O’Brien’s genuinely laugh-out-loud Andy Warhol impression, and you’ve got a cult classic in the making. M-m-m-myyy bologna Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyNov 3, 2022
Radcliffe, who remains movie-star ripped for the film’s duration, is a genius casting choice. He has pitch-perfect comic timing without necessarily coming across as someone trying to tell a joke. There’s a real sincerity to him and he has the eager grin of a Broadway performer about to take their bow. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentOct 31, 2022
Like any good “Weird Al” song parody, Weird takes the music-biopic template and transforms it into something utterly absurd. The result is a polka-popping, piss-taking joy. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 9, 2022
“Weird,” it turns out, isn’t a real biopic. It’s a movie that does to the biopic form what Weird Al did to songs like “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Beat It” — imitates it, razzes it, throws mud at it, turns it inside out. And all with supreme affection. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 9, 2022
Eric Appel’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is relentlessly silly, wholesome at heart and so stuffed with cameos it might give you the idea that a couple of generations of cool people love this guy. Read full review
78
CNETRichard TrenholmNov 4, 2022
It's worth finding the Roku remote, because Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Rainn Wilson, is funny as hell. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 27, 2024
Yankovic understands and takes to heart the maxim of never letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 4, 2022
Eric Appel's directorial debut essentially plays like a movie-length Funny or Die sketch — which it is, technically (or at least produced under that production umbrella): a giddy cameo-stacked satire propelled by murder, mayhem, Mexican drug lords, and athletic sex with Madonna. This is whole-cloth fantasy, of course, and that's the point: less Walk the Line than Walk Hard, with accordions. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMark HansonSep 12, 2022
Weird accordingly (or is it accordion-gly?) takes everything to new heights of glorious ridiculousness. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeSep 9, 2022
Weird might not be the best biopic parody (Walk Hard still holds that crown), but it is an absolutely charming and often hilarious look at the world’s greatest parody musician, packed with an excellent cast that wants to pay tribute to this weird man. Weird dares to be stupid and succeeds because of it. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiSep 9, 2022
What Yankovic and director and co-writer Eric Appel have done, brilliantly in spots, is parody Yankovic’s own life while sending up the whole biopic genre. In a messed-up way, the maneuver is kinda poetic. And so very funny. Read full review
72
TheWrapSteve PondSep 9, 2022
Does it have moments of hilarity? Sure does. Does it run out of steam at times? Hell, yes. Is Appel a workmanlike director who mostly stays out of the way and lets his cast deliver the laughs? Yep, though he does try to get fancy a few times, with mixed results. Read full review
71
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonNov 7, 2022
A jolly romp filled with songs, jokes and clever twists on a well-known genre, it is plenty of fun—but only if you can forgive how frequently it repeats the same old joke, and, as a result, becomes guilty of overplaying its own gimmick. Read full review
70
Vanity FairJordan HoffmanNov 9, 2022
You don’t need to be a fan of the accordion-toting Yankovic to get some enjoyment and laughs out of the gleefully absurd Weird, but it sure wouldn’t hurt either. Read full review
70
CNNBrian LowryNov 4, 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story certainly earns its title, operating, appropriately, not as an actual movie biography but an outlandish parody of one, filled with comedy cameos and bizarre flights of fancy. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 2, 2022
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is like eating ice cream for breakfast. Sure, it sounds like a good idea, and for a while it actually is. But eventually it starts to feel like too much. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 16, 2022
Weird lives up to its name. It's utterly ridiculous, a satire of biopics in the best way. It exaggerates anything and everything that happens (and doesn't happen) in Yankovic's life to the point of being so over-the-top one can't help but laugh at its absurdity. Read full review
70
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSep 9, 2022
All of this unfolds at a rather brisk pace, but sooner or later, "Weird" starts to run dry. While the film is consistently funny — I laughed out loud, and I mean really loud, on more than one occasion — the narrative begins to drag, giving one the sense that Appel was right to make this a short film first, and that maybe, just maybe, it should've stayed that way. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 9, 2022
It’s not exactly the second coming of Walk Hard, though it’s the best Weird Al movie since UHF [cue laugh track and maybe a Whoppee Cushion sound effect] — and like Al himself, it still hits each beat with an infectiously goofy exuberance. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBrett BuckalewNov 3, 2022
Boasts a high enough hit-to-miss ratio in its gags to succeed as a comic biopic but can’t help milking the gags that hit until their freshness evaporates. Read full review
67
IndieWireVikram MurthiSep 9, 2022
Appel and Yankovic exaggerate, and then completely diverge from, the truth until their imitation of the real story is all that remains. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 4, 2022
Weird has the ingredients of a brilliant half-hour special stretched too thin. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyNov 11, 2022
Of all the gonzo flights of fancy, though, perhaps Al’s romance with Madonna (a bubble-gum-popping, uncannily inspired Evan Rachel Wood) is the most helpful at getting this uneven spoof into its groove. The idea of her courting him just to secure the so-called “Yankovic bump” in her record sales is pure Madge, and as such, delightfully persuasive. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerNov 11, 2022
Weird won’t make anyone forget Walk Hard, but it might make some folks go and break out their old Weird Al records for the first time in a while. I recommend Dare to Be Stupid. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayNov 9, 2022
Yankovic diehards will likely enjoy this movie since — like his parody songs — it takes self-serious pieces of pop culture and changes the words to something silly. Those songs though are usually under four minutes. This picture runs 108. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 8, 2022
It’s mildly amusing, and Evan Rachel Wood is great fun as an evil Madonna. But one joke – even a joke as bizarre as this – is not enough to sustain a whole movie. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensNov 3, 2022
Though it wears out its welcome in one dreary stretch midway through, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (which premieres on the free, ad-supported streaming service the Roku Channel on Friday) is an appropriately goofy tribute to its subject and co-creator: a movie parody about the life of a parodist. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 10, 2022
Unlike Yankovic’s best songs, Weird’s inspired goofiness eventually runs out of gas, growing more and more outrageous without coming up with comparably choice gags. Read full review
58
The Film StageChristopher SchobertSep 10, 2022
Undeniably funny, very well-acted, and wise in its tonal focus, Weird plays as entertainment that could have been much, much more. There is still much to admire and enjoy, not the least of which is a genuinely triumphant, note-perfect performance from Daniel Radcliffe. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 11, 2022
This fake Weird Al movie could have used some of the real Weird Al’s cleverness. Weird doesn’t feel like a parody; it feels like an impostor. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 4, 2022
Truthfully, there aren’t enough gags and giggles to make this take flight. It sort of lumbers by for 100 minutes before sputtering out in the finale. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 3, 2022
As for Radcliffe, he doesn’t seem to have a funny bone in his body, but then it’s difficult to tell considering the preponderance of unfunniness in this script. Read full review
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