User Reviews

I hope few people walk into this thinking it's a serious biopic, you'll be in for quite the surprise. Although Weird starts in a conventional manner, you'll realize that a devotion to reality wasn't the primary goal of the film. It's a parody of the music biopic genre, think Walk Hard instead of Walk the Line or Ray. But the tone and vibe is a little different. Instead of winking at the audience or pausing for laughter, the cast and the crew play it completely straight as if the material was factual. This is an admirable choice, it allows you to pick up on a few jokes that are specifically making fun of movies like this. It reminded me a little of the Naked Gun movies, it fires off gags continually and Weird isn't worried about you catching every single one of them. Weird bounces from scene to scene and you're either going to cruise right along with it or get left in the dust.

Some actors/actresses are natural born chameleons but other A-list talents aren't required to stretch into different characters. Their natural charisma carries them and they get away with playing the same character with a different name several times over. Daniel Radcliffe is a talent but he also possesses a rare versatility. He doesn't just take the easy layups, he does strange and exciting projects and I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of his with each movie I see him in. He's great in Weird, he's obviously giving it his all and his enthusiasm is infectious. He's also really funny and hopefully this will be a showcase for his comedic talent as well. Between this and The Lost City, he's having a great year. Evan Rachel Wood is excellent as Madonna, she's playing up her bombshell angle from moment one but she's great at it and she plays off Radcliffe really well. She's very funny in her own right and their performances together were my favourite part of the movie. Rainn Wilson is a pleasant addition as Dr. Demento, he's wacky enough without pushing the envelope too far. Al Yankovic cameos in a nice meta role as music exec Tony Scotti. There are too many celebrity cameos to list but every member of the cast gets what the movie is going for and there aren't any missteps or false notes from anyone performing.

Weird rarely misses and the aspects I didn't like weren't things the movie did wrong. There was a conscious choice to keep going bigger and more outlandish as the plot unfolded and there was a moment that I disconnected from it just because of how divorced from reality it became. This will work for some people, it just didn't for me. The humour had been pretty pointed at genre tropes and Al's material before and it just became more and more broad with each deviation. I still laughed throughout the entire run time but I still would have went another direction.

Weird's amiable nature and stellar lead performances won me back every time I started to waver on it. It's above all else a celebration of the sweet and goofy nature of Yankovic's work and it's hard to fault the movie for trying to blaze a path of it's own even if it's execution is scattershot. I'm glad Weird is receiving some well earned buzz and while I'd actually rate it as a 7.5/10, I'll round up to an 8/10. It may not be a "must view" theatre experience but it's a rare enough parody that's worth checking out on streaming if you get the chance.

For those expecting an honest biopic of 'Weird Al' Yankovic, get serious. This 2022 comedy was a pretty silly, sporadically hilarious reinvention of his life and career reimagined by the subject himself. He has a minor role as a record executive here (one of the Scotti brothers), while Daniel Radcliffe liberates himself credibly as 'Weird Al' after showing off surprising comic chops in "The Lost City" earlier this year. Along with moments of gratuitous, comic book violence, there's a staggering number of celebrity cameos stuffed into this free-wheeling parody of the master parodist, though Evan Rachel Wood has significant screen time playing a believably narcissistic Madonna. Funny stuff but for a selective audience.

Really? REALLY? I don't see how those two statements could possibly coexist. "I wanted Weird Al's real story." Okay, go look on Wikipedia I guess? Eh, just kidding. I can totally relate: I took my 4yr old to see Silence of the Lambs and that one didn't fit up to my totally bizarre expectations either, so I gave it a 1/10 review too (I kinda hope someone actually checks). I grew up in the 80's. I loved Weird Al. If this has been a serious movie now THAT would've been weird. I trip out we're all on the same planet with the same physics and everything sometimes. Crazy life all works out as well as it does all things considered. Enjoy.

I was expecting the real story of this master of parody, but of course we can't have that. It took until about halfway through for me to realize this was nothing more than a parody of biographies of celebrities. True, a few details early in the movie may have been close to accurate. But about halfway through, imagine that Al decided to write original songs instead of parodies. So we go from the details of Al's life being changed like Al changed lyrics, to a completely fictional story.

And what a story it is! Weird Al's early career was brilliantly done. At some point the whole thing became just silly, but still entertaining. And then what happens just before the end really makes it all work.

I've enjoyed Weird Al's career ever since the first time I saw his story on "E. T.", back when I actually enjoyed celebrity news. I was lucky enough to live in an area with a "Dr. Demento" affiliate so I had the opportunity to enjoy this brilliant man and his greatest discovery until we moved out of the area and, besides, that radio station started playing "beautiful music", which I enjoyed too. I've kind of lost track of Al's career since then, but I never stopped liking his work, regardless of whether I liked the music it was based on, which I usually didn't.

And I sort of liked the Harry Potter movies, but I never thought those stories were the greatest thing ever. But Daniel Radcliffe has another great role in his significant repertoire. Maybe not Oscar worthy, but the Golden Globes do honor comedy., Al is not just funny. There is quite a range in this role.

And what a role! He is the greatest music star ever! I told you this was fiction.

The other standout performer is Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. She is perfection as the Madonna of early music videos, at least in the way she dresses, and the stereotypical image of the superstar. Only here she is a failure as a performer. And she's not going to forget what Al did to her.

Rainn Wilson is great as Dr, Demento. Probably an over the top exaggeration. The man is almost always in a tux and top hat, after all. And he has a serious side too.

Toby Huss is Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman on steroids. Smith would have been perfect for the role of Al's father 20 years ago. The Dad is overdone but ultimately shows a tender side.

Julianne Nicholson is good as Al's mom.

I always like Thomas Lennon ever since he was Felix Unger. He's good here as the man who gets Al's career started in a way not to be believed.

Al himself brilliantly overplays the record executive who rejected his fictional counterpart. I kept thinking there was something familiar about that face. Will Forte is great as his sidekick.

The actors playing Al's roommates and later his band are quite good, as actors and musicians. At least they portray musicians. I'm not clear on whether they really played.

And about the music. I loved the polka music played early. You know this is fiction because no group teenagers is going to be that enthusiastic, or have any feelings for, anything like that. I also liked the mariachi music in a scene in Mexico. Don't ask. I'll just say Al goes through a Rambo phase in his fictional life.

Other than that, let's just say I like what Al did with the music rather than the original music itself.

I didn't pay that much attention to the background music.

Oh, and you won't believe what they do with Michael Jackson's "Beat It"'. I was disappointed Jackson himself wasn't shown.

Getting back to actors: plenty of celebrities are portrayed by others in cameos. I don't think anyone appeared as himself or herself but there were a lot of good lines from the actors who did appear.

There's more. When Al is on LSD, the visual effects are amazing. Not pleasant for me, but great work.

And there is really well done animation and art work in a scene toward the end.

Is it family friendly? Well, there is some sexual content involving Madonna but it's pretty tame. And some overdone violence which is really just cartoonish. And the usual drinking and drugs.

Oh, and you have to stay to the end to see what must be actual photos of Al's life, and some that aren't. It's clear by the end of that sequence a lot of that stuff never happened.

A great job by everyone.

What? You say you never thought that?!? Well I guess I never really did either but now we know the answer to that question, it's this movie.

Weird is exactly what it says it is, weird. It should be known right away when going into this movie that everything is exaggerated and not remotely true, well minus a few small details. The movie is just flat out dumb at times but also brilliant in others. You get a lot of humor and cheap gags just like with Weird Al's music.

The film itself is nothing more than a satire biopic on the artist himself. I'll be honest, I had high hopes for this movie. I somewhat hoped it would be an accurate depiction on his life but instead Weird Al did what he does best, changed his whole life (just like another artists music), and made it weird...yet funny. I give him a lot of credit in making his life more interesting but it leaves a lot to be desired. You will see big time skips, sudden story arches, huge life events glanced over, and get some cheap laughs along the way. Go into this film without having high expectations and you may enjoy it. It's definitely better if you're a Weird Al fan and to be honest I'm not sure someone who isn't could get the film for what it is. Most movies don't life up to their name but this one does even if that sets it back in some ways. This movie in my opinion is a bit bland and unexciting but it has a special place in my heart for being so weird. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Weird Al Yankovic (2022)

I remember hearing the name Al Yankovic earlier in my life but as I was watching the film, I wasn't sure if I actually heard it in real life. The events were so unbelievable that I had to press pause and search the internet to confirm that I am watching a biographical movie and not some acid induced trip. Turns out, there is an Al Yankovic, he actually made all of these songs and to a degree he had dealings with Madonna and a few other celebrities.

This semi fictional somewhat autobiographical film is about the life of a musician named Al Yankovic. Written by Yankovic himself, this movie offers both an inside into his upbringing as well as a couple of made up elements to make the experience more exciting. Everything seems to feel like a parody whether it's the casting of Daniel Radcliffe, who acts like a little bag of musical dynamite with his contagious energy, or the storytelling itself, which often borders insanity.

The enjoyment of the film will come down to how much you like the 80s music of artists such as Queen, Michael Jackson and some others. Imagine how Johnny English compares to the James Bond movies and you will get an idea of how this film compares to other music biopics. Hence, If you are looking for a serious biopic, then this might not be for you as the movie serves up quite a bit of incomprehensible originality. However, if you are looking for a wildly weird parody of the biopic genre with energetic music and a fast paced atmosphere then give this a go.

P. S. Good luck getting all this music out of your head.

Movieswithoutshmovies on Instagram for honest movie and TV Show reviews.

An absolute riot of hilarious spoof & parody comedy about "Weird" Al Yankovic's 100% true exciting and wildly outrageous life story. Daniel Radcliffe transcends into Al and guides us through this heart wrenching insane, delightful story. This film is full of amazing performances from all cast and is packed with fun, surprising cameos. It's been a while since a parody spoof comedy that was this well crafted, and this one delivers. Eric Appel & Al Yankovic wrote one heck of a script that does not miss a beat, each scene carrying into the next and surprising the audience each step of the way. This film, in my opinion, deserves some kind of a theatrical run. It's way too much fun with a crowd.

We all know the clichés and tropes of the musical biopic; how they add various drama to the subject's backstory to make the journey more interesting and the celebrity himself more admirable and pitiable. Now comes the musical biopic about "Weird Al" Yankovic, which outright actively lies about pretty much everything -- as a joke. And really, could we possibly have asked for a more "Weird Al" thing to do?

For those of you who don't know (which I dearly hope is exactly 0 of you), "Weird Al" Yankovic is the parody artist who rose to prominence in the 1980s with his spoofs of Queen and Michael Jackson and, being that parody is a sort of timeless art, would eventually come to outlast many of the artists he lampooned throughout his career. Because of this, each generation's goofy teenagers have discovered him in their own distinct way. For the true OGs, it was listening to "Eat It" and "Fat" during the MAD Magazine days; for others, it was watching "Smells Like Nirvana" on TV; for me, it was finding "Amish Paradise" and "White & Nerdy" on YouTube circa 2005. There are many eras of Weird Al fans, but we all join hands in loving every era of stupid nonsense he's given us. He is, in summation, essentially synonymous with the very word "parody".

It figures, then, that Weird: The Al Yankovic story would jokingly do for Weird Al what Bohemian Rhapsody did in earnest for Queen. Here he's played by Daniel Radcliffe (who Jay Bauman described as being "completely wrong for the role which is why he's perfect for the role") and it's no doubt part of the joke that he very clearly doesn't supply his own singing voice (á la Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury).

His life is treated with all the over-the-top drama and "gravity" you'd expect from a biopic -- the big moment where he first receives his accordion as though it were Andúril itself, the big epiphany/breakthrough he shares with his astonished roommates when "My Sharona" plays on the radio whilst he's handling some bologna, the exaggerated claims of his subsequent stardom, not to mention the hilariously evil father character, his totally made up liaison with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), and finally all the drugs. It's complete BS, all of it. And that's why it works. (Wait till you see how Michael Jackson comes into play in this version of events.)

The film treats us to many other prominent faces from the worlds of music and comedy, both in terms of which actors appear (from Jack Black and Rainn Wilson to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emo Phillips) and which celebrities they portray: including but not limited to Doctor Demento, Wolfman Jack, Alice Cooper, Tiny Tim, John Deacon of Queen, Divine, Andy Warhol, and Salvador Dalí. Once again, there are varying degrees of truth as to whether any of these people actually played a part in Yankovic's life.

Overall, this flick was a blast. I had a few problems with the sometimes-bland filmmaking -- which is your average "shot, reverse shot" deal with some purposeful and zany exceptions -- and the odd joke that just didn't stick the landing too well. The funniest thing in the movie is arguably the end credits sequence.

The film was produced by Funny or Die, and for all the times I've roasted movies in the "nostalgia age" for being so absurd and creatively inept that they seem like rejected Funny or Die skits (Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Detective Pikachu, Cruella, etc.), this one actually, literally is adapted from a Funny or Die skit. And as it turns out, when a movie is adapted from a comedy skit (and doesn't just unintentionally feel like one), fun is had by all, even if the skit in question was extended just a tad too far. Catch this one on Roku if you want to see just how stupid it dares to be -- and if you're wondering how to catch it if you don't live in America, allow me to quote a recent tweet from Yankovic himself:

"Roku's working on it. In the meantime, there's VPN (Very Probably No) way to watch it legally. I'm sure you have a TORRENT of other questions, but I have to move along, sorry." We truly do not deserve this man.

I just finished watching and I am actually blown away. Having it written as a parody is just absolutely genius. This is hands down the best biopic I have ever seen. Not only is this my favorite film of the year, it might now be one of my top favorite films of all time. And the ending is definitely one of my favorite endings of all time. I literally laughed through the entire credits. Even though the film was a parody in a way, the actors still did a fantastic job. Daniel killed it and deserves an award. I thought Evan Rachel Wood was amazing as Madonna. Rainn Wilson was hilarious as Dr. Demento. Love you and thank you Weird Al! Keep being weird everyone!

The casting choices in this movie may put off some viewers but is excellent nonetheless. Daniel Radcliffe nailed his role and definitely did the strangeness of the real Al justice. The dry, satire humor was sometimes played for cheap laughs and the chemistry between the characters wavered at some parts, but not nearly enough to be bad or noticable to many. The pacing was crazy and at some parts, it felt like I was watching a whole new movie. Regardless, I still very much enjoyed this movie and it was worth the wait. Celebrities such as Lin Manuel Miranda, Patton Oswalt, Al Yankovic himself, and even David Dastmalchian snuck their ways into this movie and really added to the fun, light hearted tone of the movie.

I have loved Weird Al, since I was a kid, and that love hasn't died. He has been called the "Court jester of rock 'n roll" and that title is well deserved. And this movie extends that title to film as well.

Just know that this movie is NOT a real biopic, it is a parody of biopics. A few nuggets of truth find their way into the script, but 98% of this film is made up for comedic affect.

The cast commits 110% to the absurdity and plays the comedy straight which heightens the jokes. Daniel Radcliffe embodies this fictional Al with bravado, pathos, machismo and sex appeal. Seriously.

Evan Rachel Wood commits wholeheartedly to her role as a very broad characterization of Madonna (which she knocks out of the park) making her character the quasi villain of the movie (no spoiler since Al mentioned that on a TV interview) and the rest of the cast fits perfectly into their respective roles.

And the pool party scene is a laugh riot between the cameos and the dialogue.

Eric Appel directed the film incredibly well for his first feature film from a script that both he and Al wrote.

Even if you are not a die hard Weird Al fan (like myself) but appreciate broad and silly humor (Monty Python, Zucker Brothers) you will LOVE this.

Truly a great comedy that should've had a theatrical release. Thank you Al, Eric, Roku and all involved for creating and releasing this.

It's a non-true biopic of music icon Weird Al (Daniel Radcliffe). It's his semi-real rise to fame as an outsider performer mentored by Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson). It's his completely fictional romance with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) involving Pablo Escobar. Mostly, it is his daddy issues.

I love the unrestrained fakeness to this biopic. The only false step is Pablo Escobar. I prefer to stay within the music industry. It's always a risk to go this crazy. They simply take one too many steps and go too crazy. This one goes too crazy. Otherwise, I like the humor. The best has to be the real Al having to sit through the movie making fun of him in front of his face. I love the switcharoo between 'Beat It' and 'Eat It'. The movie should play up that idea by making Michael Jackson, the weird Al wannabe. Mostly, I want the movie to stay within the music industry and the daddy issue. Leave guns out of this.

There is weird and then there is too weird, there is silly and there is dumb. This move had a bit too much dumb for me and went beyond dumb too many times. It's entertainment but I've just barely got past halfway and the feeling of turning it off started to creep in. I've gotten 3/4 the way through and can just shut if off and not finish it. The first 30 minutes or so were pretty good, I was having no problem watching it and it was enjoyable for the most part and soon after it rapidly began to degrade. It is Weird Al after all, so I shouldn't have expected it to be any less than what was delivered here, but it would have been fine as a more genuine story of his life than to make it so absurd, it went from a mildly believable telling of his story to just outrageous goofball nonsense. If the story was that A. L. F. Was Weird Al and Punky Brewster's love-child it wouldn't have been any less strange than the story that was told here and might have been just as entertaining. There were a few laughs here and there, but it went from hope to nope for me rather fast. I just don't know if I can bring myself to finish the last bit of it, I just don't really care how they decide to finish this story, it really doesn't matter, it's just so dumb and unbelievable they could have written anything and it doesn't matter to me.

If you're already a fan of Weird Al, you'll probably appreciate this 5 minute sketch stretched into full absurd comedy. If Al's Accordian polka and silly parodies leave you cold, this is not the movie for you.

Like Weird Al's parodies enhances rather than degrades the material it lampoons. His songs have always been funnier because they have a legitimate appreciation for the music which is represented.

In that vein, the movie actually respects the stock standard musician biopic it takes down, acknowledging the build up, top of the world, rock bottom to redemption arc is solid story telling.

The actors play it straight, despite how ridiculous some of the circumstances become, which is also fitting for Weird Al and makes the humor better.

It seems like it had to be stretched with some extra zany sequences, but it doesn't really out stay its welcome.

It won't change your world, but it will probably make you laugh if you are a fan of Al's already.

You know, i got made fun of pretty frequently in the 80s for buying Weird Al records instead of Madonna or Michael Jackson. I went to second hand shops to dig out cassette tapes of Dare To Be Stupid and In 3D.

I never belonged to the Weird Al Fan Club, but i was as much of a fan as you could be with what limited distribution his music got.

So, if you market to me a film called "The Weird Al Yankovic STORY", hell yeah, i'm gonna watch it.

Hoping, you know, that the Weird Al STORY actually contains Weird Al's story.

... which it doesn't.

So, let's get that out of the way. There is approximately 0% Weird Al biography in this film.

What you do get instead is a pretty lame story that has been done much better before in The Pick Of Destiny, of a kid who wants "to rock". Weird Al goes to one gig, immediately becomes a multimillionaire rock star, and the he kills Pablo Escobar.

..uh .. that's it.

There's tons of cameos - for instance, the IRL Weird Al playing the record producer who tells him "you are the most talentless musician i have ever heard", and there's also tons of obviously-fake (i'm talking about halloween costume level) celebrities, such as Not Madonna, Not Hulk Hogan, Not Oprah, Not Frank Zappa, but this was already done in Zoolander 2 and as you can see from the review of that film, it didn't do well.

Frankly, this film is bad. It's not badly made, or badly acted, but the story really leaves to be desired. Compare this to the excellent script of The Pick Of Destiny, where there is a clear motivation for the protagonists, a mcGuffin, an antagonist, where you can actually feel for the chatracters as they advance towards their goal.

Instead WTWAYS is just a jumble of scenes whose sole common thread is an unmotivated character. Sure, you do get maybe 3 Weird Al songs, which always makes the film better, but if you have the time, go watch instead the magnificent UHF, which is at least ten times better than this mess.

My vote: 5.5/10 - incoherent.

I used to love Weird Al, and would buy all his tapes when they came out. He has a childish inventiveness that even though often aggravating, is a wonderful thing.

He has to fake these bad habits in the movie because in reality he's been such an anti-pop star, as far as being responsible goes. He was quite famous in the 80's and early 90's.

Daniel Radcliffe is amazing as Al, it's one of the best roles I've seen him in. The movie is very good. Al's humor shows through the ridiculous storyline, and Radcliffe seems to understand his humor.

You have to give Weird Al Yankovich props just for keeping the mustache and halfro/jerry curl

Overall, I just love Weird Al and the movie because he's so absurd.

In retrospect, I realize how foolish it was to expect an actual biopic of Weird Al's life. However, this was amusing as hell anyway.

I won't pretend this is any kind of cinematic masterpiece, but, mercifully, it wasn't another idiotic remake. Was it stupid? Without a doubt. Campy? Absolutely. Utterly asinine at times? You better believe it. But, it was ORIGINAL.

Daniel Radcliffe is delightfully cheesy, Evan Rachel Wood deserves an award for her portrayal of Madonna, and the understated cameos of comic legends make this one well worth watching. Weird Al is to be celebrated, and this does exactly that.

"Live the life you wanna live. You know, be as weird as you wanna be. Believe me, you will never find true happiness."

Before watching, I thought this was going to be just another biographical musical drama but boy was I wrong. This film knows exactly what it is, a highly exaggerated biography of Alfred Yankovic and it delivered. Not one dull moment in this film, the pacing is on point and flies by, phenomenal performances from and especially Daniel Radcliffe who gave it all with his perfect, comedic performance. This is literally a parody masterpiece and the most hilarious film of the year for me. My one only negative is putting this on Roku because the heck with them ads.

So at first pure undiluted genius the accordion salesman beating is a highlight

The flipping of "Eat it and "Beat it" absolutely brilliant

then we get it ; it is gone into zany surreal territory and why not ? We are game ½ way through I give it a ten; for me the father-son turnaround BREAKS the film the entire narrative. When you do parody there are still stylistic things you need respect we all understand suspension of disbelief; but there are still narrative faux-pas even in that genre about 65% in it just skids on ice as if the writers changed or got bored or were rushed but the level drops A LOT and that is a crying shame; as is seeing Harry Potter Harry Potted and with his very own hairy chest how can we explain that to the kids hmmmm had you thought about that you sickos :)

• anyway for me a 7 overall but really if it carried on in that vein it could go to a 3. How do people term it? : oh yes "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"

Shame shame shame but still good ....

Never heard the name Al Yankovic before this movie, though the face of the real one did look familiar.

As for the movie, Daniel Radcliffe has played a remarkable role. He was so much into the character that it made it look for real, so authentic that every changed story, every spoof, every mockery made, will look so real, so authentic you would need to reconfirm your facts from google once again. He has played the role very good, with the witty humor and is worth watching.

Evan Rachel Wood, was portraying Madonna way better then herself. Well played, well played.

It a parody of parodies, so all and all entertainment, a bit stupid though.

This was really funny for like 45 minutes, but unfortunately, its runtime ends up being about an hour longer than that.

This movie never really seemed like it'd be my thing, but I wanted to give it a shot. I'd heard it was pretty funny and a solid parody of music biopics (naturally, there were comparisons to the superior Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), but I've never found Weird Al particularly funny (I'm sorry, I was born after the 1980s were well and truly over), and I don't like Daniel Radcliffe as an actor.

He honestly comes close to triggering my fight-or-flight response whenever he gets intense (whether it's in a serious or comedic role). It's like he's always trying a bit too hard (he really, really, really doesn't want to just be Harry Potter), and he always feels like an actor to me, and seems incapable of disappearing into roles that aren't him playing a farting dead body (I like him in Swiss Army Man). Also, why's he so distractingly ripped in this? Some people just have a screen presence that endears you to them. Radcliffe kind of has anti-charisma on-screen, to me.

Otherwise, I don't know, this is funny for a while, but its humor is so limited. I got really tired of the whole thing at some point in the second half, and the movie comes to a halt whenever it plays more than a line or two of a real Weird Al song. I get the novelty appeal, but once you've heard the chorus once, it just stops being funny (at least to me). Also, I don't blame Evan Rachel Wood (her Madonna impression is quite good), but the film also suffers once Madonna becomes a big part of it. The idea of Madonna being a love interest is funny for a moment or two, but like a Weird Al lyric, it stops being amusing at a point.

I'm in the minority on this, by not liking it, but I wanted to give it a shot. I enjoyed it for a while, but the repetitive humor and Radcliffe eventually made me turn on the movie. I'm sorry - I just don't think this movie's quite as clever as it thinks it is, and it joins The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as an ambitious 2022 comedy that should've been a lot funnier than it was.

I thought this was going to be another one of those real life bio pics. Hahaha, boy was I wrong. This whole movie is a completely made up fantasy. None of it is real.

So since I dont know much about Al I thought it'd be good for me to watch this so I could learn about him. Now I still dont know anything about him but I did enjoy watching this movie. It's a very well made parody.

Dont want to spoil it but the song during the credits was actually super clever and original. Overall, this was not what I expected and it was super cheesy at times but it was worth the watch even if you are not an Al fan.

Weird Al holds a special place in my heart and in that of millions of others. Growing up, not only was going to see him perform the first "real" concert I went to (other than Beatles tribute bands), but the music video for his song "White and Nerdy" was also the very first YouTube video I watched, way back circa 2007 when the behemoth of a platform was still in its wee days. Hundreds of concerts and Lord-knows-how-many YouTube videos later, I sat down to watch this full-length movie. I do not regret it.

This movie serves as a fictionalized account of the Weird Al origin story. This is the story of the boy who, against all odds, picked up an accordion and started making up lyrics to other people's songs, becoming the man we all know and love today. The movie, just like the better part of the musician's repertoire, is a parody in and of itself. It over-exaggerates Weird Al's rise to fame and pokes fun at a lot of star rockstar clichés along the way.

I must admit, at first I was somewhat skeptical about the casting choice. Why did they pick the guy who played Harry Potter to be Weird Al? Watching the movie, it's pretty obvious he was cast because of his washboard abs to over-exaggerate Weird Al's status as a Hollywood sex symbol. Which he never was in the first place. That all being said, Daniel Radcliffe hits the role out of the park. Rainn Wilson, an actor whose time had seemingly come and gone, also deserves a shoutout for his fantastic betrayal of Weird Al's mentor, Dr. Demento.

The movie's pacing is admittedly, well, weird, and not necessarily in a good way. Al's college roommates become his bandmates, for convenience sake, and then kind of disappear from the movie altogether. The fictionalized origin story for one of his most famous songs (which wasn't even released during this time) feels just kind of thrown into the mix at the end. It honestly kind of ruins the movie, which up until that point had only showcased the musician's earliest hits from the early 1980s. A sequel or two portraying later phases of his career would have been preferable.

The movie has an overall positive message: "Be yourself and don't be afraid to be as weird as you want to be." However, it's hard to say if it actually lives up to that message. Apart from the way he dresses, Al is never really seen as embracing being weird. In this alternate reality, the accordion is over-glorified, similar to how the electric guitar at that time in our own reality was over-glorifiedd. This makes for a fun movie, but I feel like it could have better highlighted perhaps Al's childhood struggles fitting in with his classmates for being too weird. It also seems hypocritical for the movie to promote being weird when Daniel Radcliffe is completely shredded, thus submitting to unrealistic Western standards of how men are "supposed to look."

As a final complaint, there was something about the way the parody songs featured in the movie were edited that didn't quite sit right with me. I don't know if it was auto-tune or poor sound mixing, or perhaps even my TV setup, but it just sounded weird, and again, not in a good way. Then again, a lot of Weird Al songs have a kind of similar thing going on.

In conclusion, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a wild ride. It is definitely a must-see for his die-hard fans. More casual listeners may enjoy it too, but wouldn't understand many of the references. It is a movie to be approached with an open mind. Kudos to Weird Al and his team for such an original take on a movie genre that is quickly becoming as over-saturated as superhero movies.