Weird: The Al Yankovic Story review – Daniel Radcliffe biopic packed with wacky walk-ons



Packed with parody philharmonic cliches, this spoof biopic of the afro-haired singing crook is simply a agelong dilatory trudge with small comedy

‘Doesn’t look to person a humorous bony successful his body’ … Daniel Radcliffe successful Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Photograph: Aaron Epstein/© 2022 The Roku Channel‘Doesn’t look to person a humorous bony successful his frame’ … Daniel Radcliffe successful Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Photograph: Aaron Epstein/© 2022 The Roku ChannelPeter Bradshaw@PeterBradshaw1Thu 3 Nov 2022 03.00 EDTLast modified connected Thu 3 Nov 2022 03.02 EDT

This period has disposable the posthumous merchandise of Alan Rickman’s diaries, which discovered the precocious celebrated person’s sentiment astir his Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe: “I nevertheless don’t deliberation he’s perfectly an histrion nevertheless he'll undoubtedly direct/produce.” Maybe so. But these vocation progressions are nevertheless wrong the aboriginal and Radcliffe has been coagulated close present arsenic the American accordionist and wacky singing crook “Weird” Al Yankovic with frizzy afro and moustache successful this laboriously unfunny and unnecessary spoof biopic, co-written and produced by utilizing Yankovic himself.

Just arsenic Yankovic made his sanction with wacky parodies of songs similar My Sharona and Another One Bites the Dust, truthful this movie lines to parody philharmonic movies which see Walk the Line, with each the aforesaid aged cliches: needle-scratch freezeframe voiceover commencing (even though the cliche there's possibly unintended), hard upbringing, uncaring dada and mom, breakthrough to reputation, substance abuse, situation and comeback, each of which bears precise small narration to Yankovic’s existent life.

There are 1 oregon 2 vaguely archetypal complaint matters close here: a pleasant gag astir nary idiosyncratic recognising Queen bassist John Deacon, and a crippled show from Julianne Nicholson. Having simply portrayed Marilyn Monroe’s ma successful Blonde, Nicholson present gets to play Al’s mum, placidly telling her tune-obsessed lad matters specified as: “Stop being who you are and doing the things you love.”

But honestly it's acold an extended, gradual trudge via rather a fewer zany walk-ons. Rainn Wilson plays the freaky DJ Dr Demento who gave Al his archetypal damage, Jack Black shows up successful abbreviated to play Wolfman Jack, and Evan Rachel Wood performs 80s-era Madonna whom this movie imagines to person had a passionate matter with our hero. This movie besides jokingly – oregon possibly not precisely jokingly – means that Al clip and again turned down past opportunities that would person made him an A-list popular legend. As for Radcliffe, helium doesn’t look to person a humorous bony successful his frame, but past it’s hard to archer reasoning astir the preponderance of unfunniness successful this script.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is released connected 4 November connected Roku.