Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Review
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a 2022 American biographical parody film directed by Eric Appel from a screenplay he co-wrote with "Weird Al" Yankovic. Daniel Radcliffe plays Yankovic in the satirical biography, which also features Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss, and Julianne Nicholson in supporting parts. It is partly based on Yankovic's life and career.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story had its Toronto International Film Festival premiere on September 8, 2022, and on November 4, 2022, it was made available on Roku.
Starring : Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss, Julianne Nicholson, Quinta Brunson
Director : Eric Appel
Producers : "Weird Al" Yankovic, Eric Appel, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Max Silva, Whitney Hodack
Music Directors : Zach Robinson, Leo Birenberg
Cinematography : Ross Riege
Editor : Jamie Kennedy
"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" clearly lives up to its name; it functions perfectly as a ridiculous parody of a movie biography, complete with comedic appearances and off-the-wall fantasies, rather than as a genuine movie biography.
Like the songs of its namesake, it stars Daniel Radcliffe and is produced and co-written by Yankovic himself. It can occasionally be a touch too goofy, but it's still enthusiastic and attention-grabbing enough to persuade people to pay attention to the often overlooked Roku channel.
The project's hilarious idea is that a Weird Al biography acts like one of his hit songs, taking the form of the genre but turning it on its head. It builds upon a parody movie trailer that was published in 2010. There is enough to keep viewers interested and, for the most part, entertained, while they may also do some more research to see where (if anywhere) the truth may lie.
Consider Yankovic's parents, who bluntly ordered him as a child to stop being himself and doing the things he loved. Or the way he picks up the accordion after witnessing his father severely beating a door-to-door salesman.
Al then stumbles into his musical career, changing the song "My Sharona" to "My Bologna" when his roommates ask him to make sandwiches, and later catching the attention of the novelty-song guru and DJ Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), who actually did play a role in Yankovic's discovery, just not exactly in the way that is portrayed here.
Al's connection with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood, in a surprisingly uncanny impersonation)—who truly did ask him to parody one of her songs but maybe didn't become his girlfriend and at some point got kidnapped—begins the film's strangest voyage.
"Weird," which is produced by the people at Funny or Die, is directed by Eric Appel (who also produced the aforementioned short and shared writer credit with Yankovic, who also makes an appearance). At first glance, it seems like the perfect solution to create something entirely new around Yankovic while retaining the same lighthearted irreverence he injected into his songs.
The thought that it loses steam a little before it's all finished seems natural and reasonable given its thin foundations, especially when considering that its subject's most remarkable inventions last for little longer than three minutes.
In a way, turning a little joke into a feature-length film is the ideal illustration of the streaming age's insatiable need for material. Even still, as the man in question sung, simply eat it, even if "Weird" isn't much more than a snack.
