movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link] I’m so happy I chose to see this! I was somewhat aware of this movie existing, due to my love of the Dr. Steve Brule character played by John C. Reilly in Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. (My thoughts were: “Wait… He’s a real actor, not someone brought in from public access, like many of the Tim & Eric characters?!?!”) … But it wasn’t until Jon B got me to watch a clip that I realized …. I need to watch this movie — NOW. (And in 720p HD!)

PEOPLE: John C. Reilly, as mentioned above, does an incredible job playing Dewey Cox. He was even nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe award (but lost out to Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd). Let’s also not forget that this is a comedy, co-produced by Judd Apatow (40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman, Superbad, Undeclared, Knocked Up). Also cast are Jenna Fischer (aka Pam from The Office), Kristin Wiig (aka the mom from The Brothers Solomon — a much funnier pregnancy movie than Knocked Up, which I/we also liked more than Juno), Frankie Muniz (aka Malcolm from Malcolm In The Middle), Jack Black, Tim Meadows (aka “the black guy from Saturday Night Live“), and a ton of other characters. This movie had a large cast.

QUIRKS: Dewey Cox lost his sense of smell as a child. Also: Most of the movie is a flashback…. Dewey Cox has to re-live his life prior to going onto stage, and the whole movie is simply him recalling his life. Lots of drug use (“You don’t want this!”). Lots of parody of the biopic / biography genre in general. Lots of awkwardness (a John C. Reilly trademark based on his performance in Tim & Eric).

BAD STUFF: Some criticize that this movie sticks too closely to the movies that it parodies (Don’t Look Back, Yellow Submarine, Great Balls Of Fire!, What’s Love Got To Do With It, Beyond The Sea, Ray, Walk The Line)… But if you’re like me, those movies have no appeal (being based on shitty music; I was born in 1974 and hate nearly all pre-1977 music and pre-1980 movies). Thus, if you are like me, you haven’t seen any of the movies it parodies, so this drawback is absolutely imperceptible. The movie is also long — clocking in at a full 2 hours. Most people consider that bad; I consider that good. It’s rather unusual for a comedy to be that long.

CONCLUSION: 5-star comedy; I rated this 9/10 on IMDB. I will definitely watch this again — sooner than 7 years (we have a house rule-of-thumb that nothing should be rewatched until 7 years later). I may watch it again in 2008; It’s one of our favorite movies out of the last 90 or so that we have watched. John C. Reilly plays his role so straight, that you actually have feelings for him. By the end of the movie I had some of the same emotions that I had from watching the excellent drama (something you’ll rarely hear me say) A Beautiful Mind (!!!!). Call me a softie, but you’d have to be a robot to not have some of these emotions. The story told would have stood up as a drama — but I probably wouldn’t have liked it. As a comedy/mockumentary, however, it was chock full of funny moments AND a good story. It was great. It may be our current title holder for best comedy watched in 2008.

RECOMMENDATION: See it, see it, see it!!!! There is also a bonus disc that I will be Netflixing, too!

MOVIE QUOTE: “I do believe in you …… I just know you’re gonna fail.” “This was a particularly bad case of somebody being cut in half.” “You know I suffer the same temptations you do. Sometimes when I’m lyin’ in bed, I ache for a man’s touch… and by a man’s touch, I mean a penis in my vagina. I know, it’s just so silly!”

COINCIDENCES: After watching the movie, we watched Human Giant — which had fake credits mentioning a death of a crew member in a plane with Buddy Holly & Big Bopper lookalikes. Buddy Holly & Big Bopper were characters in Walk Hard! Also, this movie also featured a group of 3 Jewish guys — just like My Big Fat Independent Movie, which we had watched in the same week.

FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Christian D & Benj really liked it. But Glen didn’t (of course). I assume Jon B liked it, because he was the one who told me about it.

Mood: sleepy
Music: D.I. – Shadow Of A Fool