Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story 2007

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has a good beat and you can dance to it, though mostly you'll probably just tap your foot. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: 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 more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Walk Hard offers a quantity of laughs that few comedies could match. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's the role of a lifetime for Reilly, who plays Cox from a teenager to an old man (older actors playing kids are a running joke). Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's the Flintstones vitamin of spoofs. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This gleeful skewering of American popular music works because of the talents of director Jake Kasdan and a cast led by John C. Reilly. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: While "Walk Hard" makes for a fine soundtrack, it's less entertaining as a movie. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: For half an hour or so, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is hilarious. Problem is, the movie lasts an hour and a half. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Walk Hard isn't merciless (except for maybe one wicked sequence with the Beatles), and that's because it so loves what it's sending up: the pleasure, ego, and sheer exhaustion of what happens behind the music. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: This smart new spoof works because its makers...obviously love the genre they have so much fun sending up. Read more

Jim Ridley, L.A. Weekly: Walk Hard limps soft. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Milks the pat formulations of its brethren, such as Walk the Line, for all the laughs they're worth. And then some. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Judd Apatow can do no wrong, apparently. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: [An] erratic, but enjoyable goof from the Judd Apatow hit-making machine. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Walk Hard runs down quickly, and suffers further from having the wide-eyed and weightless Reilly as its star. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: [Judd] Apatow has always told loose and improvisational stories, but the work he's done here with [director Jake] Kasdan just feels lazy and unfinished. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: There are a few too many lazy jokes played off Dewey's last name, but not nearly enough to wipe that grin off your face. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: In a season filled with so many feel-bad movies, don't underestimate the appeal of something as silly as Walk Hard. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Never stops sprinting from its snickering start to that big finish. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Reilly is recklessly funny. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Walk Hard is a disposable film that offers its share of small pleasures and amusements. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Instead of sending everything over the top at high energy, like Top Secret or Airplane!, they allow Reilly to more or less actually play the character, so that, against all expectations, some scenes actually approach real sentiment. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Walk Hard is 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 more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Walk Hard is 100 minutes of fun, and for pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Writer-producer Judd Apatow, star John C. Reilly and director Jake Kasdan eviscerate the genre gleefully. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: In a season loaded with serious films about war and loss, there's bound to be an audience out there looking for some undemanding holiday laughs. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Walk Hard is the kind of movie that you want to love and not just like, but liking it is good enough. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Call me a cynic, call me a curmudgeon, call me perverse -- I loved every moment of Dewey Cox's story. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: The one area where 'Walk Hard' does manage to hold its own against classics of the genre such as 'This is Spinal Tap' or 'Sweet and Lowdown' is the music, all of which is expertly written and performed. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Cox rocks. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: ...Not all the bits (among them a "Yellow Submarine"-like acid trip) work equally well. Fortunately, there's a general exuberance and fondness for the musical material that eases the rough spots. Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: This burlesque of biopic cliches flounders from one setup to the next without the engine that drives the genre: a strong central character. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Walk Hard is one of those fish-in-a-barrel comedies that mine a rich comedic vein but manage to come up with few genuine gems. Read more