The idea was sitting right there for everyone to take: the fake biopic. Someone daring enough could take everything sentimental, dignified, and beautiful about telling a life story and openly mock everything a biopic usually stands for. That daring, brave man is Weird Al Yankovic, who’s made his entire career off of mocking art. And like his wonderful parody songs, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes the bones of something familiar and makes something silly and clever to enjoy for everyone, helping give the original that good ol’ Yankovic bump.
Weird’s movie base really is your sterotypical music biopic. Al Yankovic (Daniel Radcliffe) is the son of overbearing parents Nick (Toby Huss) and Mary (Julianne Nicholson), who want him to work in “the factory” instead of living with his head in the clouds. But Al has to go his own way, and moves in with guys who’ll become his bandmates, while he accordion and parody songs his way into super stardom. Along the way, he deals with hesitant music execs (Will Forte, and Weird Al himself) and the temptations of booze and women: specifically, Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), insistent on getting the Yankovic Bump by any means necessary.
Sounds like standard fare you’ve seen before in like Bohemian Rhapsody, right? But the brilliance of Weird is that all of the story is bullsh*t. It’s completely made up, and put together like a real Oscar worthy biopic might have been. That choice gives Weird Al and director Eric Appel carte blanche to make up the most heinous, nonsensical story beats for his fake biopic, transforming “Weird Al” into one of those tortured musicians struggling with fame and creativity. Little strange but real details (an accordion salesman did visit Al’s home) get exaggerated exponentially (Al’s dad did not in fact beat the crap out of said accordion salesman). Some points are humorously backwards, like Al pissed Michael Jackson copied HIS “Eat It.” And when most of the strange details are exhausted, Al and Appel just go full on farce: the end of Weird Al turns into a truly insane action movie that involves Pablo Escobar’s (Arturo Castro) birthday, because, sure why not? All of this information is distilled through the “prestige music biopic” lens, making the movie play like a drama but is as funny as anything released in 2022. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Weird Al and Eric Appel came up with one of the most elaborate imitations in movie history with The Al Yankovic Story.
It’s clear from the get go too that this set must have been incredibly fun to be on. Cameos abound, with someone popping up to play some famous person in random scenes every 5 to 10 minutes or so, and having a blast doing so. I’m particularly fond of the Andy Warhol, Dr. Demento, and Wolfman Jack impersonators. But the stabilizing force is the committed performances by the leads. Toby Huss completely leans into his take on the “uptight father” character, oozing a shocking amount of menace until time comes in the story to be nice again. Evan Rachel Wood is having a ball playing this fictionalized Madonna. Her character goes off the rails maybe even more than Al himself, and Wood is game for every turn the story asks her to take…except regrettably, not letting her sing (she’s an incredible singer). But the movie’s success falls on Daniel Radcliffe’s shoulders. On the surface that seems like a gamble: Harry Potter wasn’t exactly getting people rolling on the floor laughing. However, Radcliffe’s risky post-Potter career made Yankovic put him at the top of the casting sheet. And Daniel delivers! His performance is 100% all in on the ridiculous “Weird Al” concocted for this film, and Radcliff commits to giving the world the most musical biopicy performance they’ve ever seen, filled with over the top drinking problems, Madonna relationship drama, and unhinged interviews/performances when asked to be in front of a crowd. Even though Weird: The Al Yankovic Story would laugh at an Academy Award nomination, Radcliffe’s performance is so good it might end up on the short list anyways.
But awards are not the point of Weird: The Al Yankovic story. It’s entertainment at its most pure. Everyone involved here just wants to make you laugh along with the silliness on display here, taking down the high brow story by serving up a barrage of laughs and chuckles from beginning to end. Plus, Yankovic might Inception himself a “Yankovic bump” after hearing some of his greatest hits!