Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss
Directed by Eric Appel

While I enjoy musical biopics, I've had the same criticism for them all: they're almost exactly the same. Seeing their rough childhood with parents who never believed in their dreams, setting out to not just prove their parents wrong but also make them proud, their big start in the music business by playing small venues, getting recognized by a high-profile manager, having their first hit, their meteoric rise to popularity and wealth, struggling with drugs and alcohol, allowing the popularity to get to their head and tossing aside those who were with them at the beginning, their eventual downward spiral and path to redemption, and offering a Wikipedia-style format of their life with the focus on their one signature song. Literally every musical biopic followed that same formula with few deviations, and it's really hard to differentiate between them. Thankfully, Weird Al Yankovic also knew about this pattern and for his own biopic he decided to not make it an actual biopic, but a parody of those real biopics - kind of like how he parodies other peoples' songs - and makes it so outlandish it's laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish, even though it's played like a serious biopic.

When he was a kid, Al Yankovic (Richard Aaron Anderson) wanted to do something different, but his father Nick (Toby Huss) wanted him to follow in his footsteps by working in the factory (although you don't know what they do at the factory, because no one talks about what they do at the factory until they work at the factory). One day they're visited by a traveling accordion salesman, and Al is hooked - to the chagrin of his father. When he attends a polka party, he's arrested and his father destroys his accordion, and his mother tells him to stop being who he is and doing what he loves. This doesn't deter him, and while in college the older Al (Daniel Radcliffe) accomplishes his biggest dream - to make up new words to a song that already exists. His song "My Bologna" takes off and he becomes a major celebrity under the management of Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), and he achieves superstar status with his parody songs that all hit the music charts.

After one night on LSD, he decides he doesn't want to be known as someone who parodies songs and wants to write his own, so he comes up with the song "Eat It" - a wholly original song - and his popularity only skyrockets more. This draws the attention of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), who wants Al to parody her song "Like a Virgin" - and in the process the two begin a tumultuous relationship. Her influence causes him to become an alcoholic and turn his back on his old bandmates and manager, relying solely on Madonna, who wants to use him for her own nefarious means. Realizing the error of his ways, he returns to the stage with his biggest song ever, "Amish Paradise" (another wholly original song) and becomes the Weird Al that America cherishes as their national hero.

Along the lines of "Walk Hard," "Weird" is a total parody on the musical biopic and it's done with a finesse that only Weird Al can accomplish (he even appears in the film as a music executive who at first craps on Al's dreams, which is so meta and gut-rolling funny), and somehow it takes itself so seriously you can't help but laugh at the absurdity. Very little of the biopic is actually factual, but it feels real to the viewer due to the committed performances and the story it delivers, no matter how outlandish it is (including a section where Al becomes the best assassin the world has ever seen). Unlike most musical biopics, this is one that you can watch again and again and not be bored by it, but appreciate it for its uniqueness, much like Weird Al himself.

Daniel Radcliffe is an inspired choice to play Weird Al (and Weird Al personally chose him for that reason), and he's been the standout from the "Harry Potter" franchise to branch out and do his own unique work. "Swiss Army Man," "Horns," and "Guns Akimbo" showcases his unique talent, and "Weird" focuses all the more on it. He performs with deadpan seriousness, no matter how crazy it gets (including a LSD trip scene, and especially when he finds out some musician named Michael Jackson was releasing a song called "Beat It" after his wholly original song "Eat It" came out, angered that someone else is parodying his own music).

Likewise, Evan Rachel Wood dominates as the villainous Madonna (whom, surprisingly, they didn't need to get permission from to play her), the leeching wannabe music star who uses Weird Al to give her own music the "Yankovic bump" (a real thing where the musician who's song is parodied by Weird Al gets a bump in the charts after he parodies it) by faking a romance with him and turning his life upside down. Wood plays this archtype to pitch perfect perfection, and even looks like Madonna in appearance and mannerisms.

In a world where bad behavior is praised and respected, Weird Al bucked the norm. His life is nothing like "Weird," and if there actually was a biopic about the parody singer, it'd be incredibly boring - because he's such a wholesome guy. He isn't egotistical, he never did drugs, he doesn't drink or smoke, and he respects people around him, and somehow he's gained a popularity that's the antithesis to most other celebrities. "Nice guys finish last" is something that's heard a lot, but Weird Al is the exception - much like his music that mirrors famous songs, his life mirrors the opposite of normal, and we're all the better for it.

Despite it being a parody film, there's some important life lessons that Weird Al wanted to incorporate into the movie. In a time where everyone is supposed to be like everyone else and not stick out, Weird Al encourages us to be as weird as we want to be, because in doing so we live out our best lives and achieve the impossible. "You will never find true happiness until you can truly accept who you are" is a message that resonates deeper than

The Score: A+