Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Exploring every facet of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle, this biopic takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
  • Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss, Julianne Nicholson, Quinta Brunson, 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Will Forte, Patton Oswalt, Michael McKean, Dot-Marie Jones, Jorma Taccone, Demetri Martin, Dean Sharpe, Paul F. Tompkins, Scott Aukerman, Akiva Schaffer, Conan O'Brien, Emo Philips, Nina West, Jack Black, David Dastmalchian, Julie Chang, Josh Groban, Seth Green, Arturo Castro, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Diedrich Bader, Richard Aaron Anderson, David Bloom, Thomas Lennon, Johnny Pemberton, Jonah Ray, Jeremy Bolm, Jack Lancaster, Spencer Treat Clark, Tommy O'Brien, Jacob Lawrence Kreiss, Keanush Tafreshi, Andrew Steven Hernandez, Paloma Esparza Rabinov, Eric Appel, Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom, Constantine Rousouli, James Brown III, Rocky Abou-Sakher, Chris Ryan, Mike Escamilla, Chad Guerrero, Cesar Ramirez, Omar Estrada, Cesar Chavira, Jimmy Walker Jr., Trenyce, James Preston Rogers, William Guirola
  • Director: Eric Appel
 Comments
  • wellthatswhatithinkanyway - 23 June 2024
    Offbeat true life drama that fits its subject perfectly
    STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

    'Weird' Al Yankovic (Daniel Radcliffe) was a shy young man growing up in small town America, whose only outlet for expression was his accordion. His dad thought his only prospect in life was to work down the local pit, like generations of his family had before. However, nothing could diminish his love of writing and performing his parodies of popular songs (with his accordion, of course) and after being convinced to send his tapes into Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) to be played on his popular radio show, is launched on a wild rollercoaster ride of fame, with wild highs and lows (half of which probably didn't happen!)

    As I was a young(er) man, growing up and developing my taste in comedy, the spoof film was still a fairly popular box office draw, and many (considered hit and miss by most), still got released in movie theatres, with Leslie Nielsen often in the lead. So movies were still sorted out, but there wasn't much in the way of people doing spoof songs, except for a guy called 'Weird' Al Yankovic, who could always be relied on to send up popular songs that were around at the time to generally successful effect. Here, director Eric Appel attempts to dramatise his life, in a true life biography (of sorts), that could only befit its subject.

    What we're actually presented with is a complete subversion of the traditional true life biography, and we have a mangled, Frankenstein's monster of an effort, that portrays genuinely true life events from Yankovic's life, most notably his fraught relationship with his father to more, shall we say, ambiguous plot points, involving his relationship with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), and dealings with a Colombian drug cartel. It's a combination of touching, true life events and more wacky, offbeat events that could befit only Yankovic himself. Radcliffe captures his mannerisms and personality quite well, with strong support from Wilson as the guy who launched his career, and who I'd only heard about before on an episode of The Simpsons.

    The off-kilter style will work with some, and put off others, possibly even Yankovic aficionados, but it certainly makes it stand out a bit, and most of his back catalogue, including his debut Another One Rides the Bus, followed by the likes of Like a Surgeon, Eat It (allegedly spoofed by Michael Jackson!) and a more modern favourite in the shape of Amish Paradise, which can only make it more appealing. ***
  • crazyblondegirl - 30 April 2024
    Another parody
    Let me start by saying this- he may be weird, but Al Yankovic is one of the smartest people out there. Do you know how hard it is to write a song? Imagine writing new words to a song to where it actually flows but is also funny at the same time. Weird Al is fantastic and this movie is ridiculous and terrible in the best way. It's a parody of many celebrity biopics, fabricating certain points of the story to make it seem more exciting. Don't take everything in this movie literally, though there are definitely pockets of truth, which makes it a good movie. There are great cameos and celebrity appearances. Personally, I really don't find any faults with this movie. All of the 'mistakes' are done purposefully and it just makes the movie that much better. Go watch it!
  • bdunklin - 29 December 2023
    Now that was weird
    I am actually a fan of Weird Al. He is obviously very intelligent - Valedictorian of his high school class and all - and his song parodies are hilarious and highly entertaining.

    But this movie was not what I was expecting - at all. I thought it would be a straight biopic that maybe stretches the truth a bit here and there for entertainment purposes. But, this movie didn't make any sense at all. I had quite a few "what the F" moments, like why are they doing this?

    Gotta say I was majorly disappointed, but it only cost me $6.99 to watch it on Amazon Prime, so what the heck. I guess now I'll just go read the Wikipedia biography of Weird Al instead.
  • lwoods2 - 30 December 2022
    Every Child of the 80s Should Watch This
    Anyone expecting a serious biopic of Weird Al obviously has no idea who he is. I thought the movie was brilliant - true Weird Al fashion. I grew up on Dr. Demento and Weird Al, so this brought me back to my childhood in the best way possible. The acting was spectacular, the references hysterical, and the comedy completely hilarious. If you grew up with Weird Al, then you'll truly appreciate this movie. I cannot think of a better way to honor his legacy. I also cannot think of another 143 characters to write about, but that's what IMDB tells me I'll need before I can submit this. Did you know that in 1985.
  • williamdrummer-70508 - 13 December 2022
    A Swing...and a Flop.
    Growing up, I loved Weird Al Yankovic. His slapstick humor, his music, and all of his other shenanigans. So it's easy to say that I had high hopes for this film.

    The film started off great, made me laugh quite a few times, and was obviously not intending to be serious, as Weird Al himself hints at the beginning. It was funny and engaging in the beginning, had some celebrity appearances, and the storyline was easy to follow. But as the movie went along, unfortunately the humor seemed to get repetitive, dull, and honestly...a little boring and unamusing. It got to the point where I was wondering when the movie was going to end. I didn't hate the movie, but I also didn't love it, and kind of expected better.
  • james1095 - 27 November 2022
    Love Weird Al but this movie misses the mark
    I've loved Weird Al's music since I was a kid in the 80s and when I heard about this movie after a friend saw it and said it was hilarious I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately it misses the mark on so many levels. Going in I assumed it would be more or less the true story of Weird Al but it isn't, it's completely fake, a bit like Spinal Tap except that the Spinal Tap mockumentary was funny and this isn't. There were a few funny moments and some great cameos but that was about it, I found myself bored and playing with my phone by 30 minutes in and the last half especially dragged on and on. Maybe there's some inside joke I just don't get but I want my 2 hours back.
  • tinydrummer - 20 November 2022
    Wait what?
    I'm not entirely sure what I just watched but I enjoyed watching it. It's definitely not an actual documentary or a how to of his career but it was entertaining nonetheless. I thought Daniel Radcliffe did a great job playing the character and I love how weird owl is actually a character in the movie, not playing himself. Funny part is when he's sitting there, watching his character which is him getting roasted I thought that was hilarious. Overall a definitely funny movie though I do wish they had more of his parodies after the 80s involved in the movie. I was looking forward to seeing white and nerdy as that's my favorite parity by him. Needless to say it's a movie to be entertained when you don't know what else to watch and when you just want a laugh. It's definitely not a serious role, but very funny to see Daniel Radcliffe portray.