Poster art for "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

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Avg. Critic Score: 63 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    A pitch-perfect musical comedy that at long last moves the talented John C. Reilly up the billing ladder from second banana to top banana. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Smart and genial satire. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    For pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Reilly is required to walk a tightrope; is he suffering or kidding suffering, or kidding suffering about suffering? That we're not sure adds to the appeal. Read full review

  • 75
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    If you want to escape all the deadly serious fare of this pre-awards season, run to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.Why? Cox rocks. This rowdy spoof of music biopics is silly fun and often hilarious. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The movie walks the line of surreal vulgarity (you will not, repeat not, expect the penis), yet most of it, intentionally, is less nutzoid than your average megaplex genre parody. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    The film is more funny ha-ha than LOL; it's a smarty-pants satire that mocks and embraces almost every clich in the biography playbook. Read full review

  • 63
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    The tricky thing about parody movies is that the jokes get old fast and they're hit-and-miss. Walk Hard, a spoof of every musical biopic from "Ray" to "Walk the Line," is guilty on both counts. How lucky that when the jokes do hit, they kick major ass. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Brian Lowry

    Strums the genre for considerable laughs, with John C. Reilly playing the title balladeer from teen to senior citizen, generating enough goodwill to offset the flat sections and a decidedly juvenile streak. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    The best part of Walk Hard, oddl enough, is the music. I might not care to see Walk Hard" a second time, but I can't wait to hear it again. Read full review

View more reviews for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Raunchy biopic parody isn't for younger teens.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that, like most comedies produced by Judd Apatow, this spoof of music biopics is a pretty hard-R affair. There's full-frontal male nudity (including at least three close-ups of male genitalia), several shots of bare-breasted women, and lots of sexual innuendo. The main character is introduced to (and takes) almost every kind of drug -- pot, pills, acid, cocaine, you name it. There are also several off-color Jewish jokes (about them running showbiz, for instance), African-American stereotypes, and plenty of strong language. A few violent scenes are played for laughs (including two that show people who've been sliced in half by a machete).
  • Families can talk about how the movie pokes fun at straightforward biopics like Ray and Walk the Line. What Hollywood "formula" for telling musicians' life stories does the comedy make fun of?
  • Is it on target? How are musicians typically portrayed in the media? Kids: Do you think all famous rock stars live like Dewey Cox?
  • What parts do you think are exaggerated for laughs?
  • Families can also discuss the "return" of the R-rated comedy. Do the raunchy bits make movies like this funnier, or do they go overboard?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: There are a few jokes/stereotypes about African Americans, dirty dancing, and Jewish people controlling the music business (for example, the record-company executives are Hasidic men). As his fame grows, so does Dewey's appetite for drugs and women. He cheats on his wife, is mean to his band, and doesn't want to take care of his kids. But in the end, he comes to his senses.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: In this satiric musical biography (hello Walk the Line) Dewey Cox does all sorts of things that are bad, wrong, and just plain stupid, but he comes through and returns to his senses. Regardless, Dewey's story, in its entirety, is probably not one you'd want your kid reenacting. Especially the part with the monkey.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: A boy gets split in half by a machete, but the scene is played for laughs -- no screaming or blood spatter.
  • sex false5 Sex: Several close-ups of a penis and shots of topless women in the apparent aftermath of group sex. Lots of tongue kissing, flirting, and discussion of/singing about sex (heavy double entendre in some lyrics). Teenage girls open their shirts to show their bras to Dewey. A couple dances erotically at a nightclub.
  • language false3 Language: Lots of "f--k"s, as well as "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "c--t," etc.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Jewel, and Eddie Vedder pop up as themselves.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: High-school girls smoke cigarettes at a talent show. Dewey is introduced to stronger and stronger drugs -- marijuana, cocaine, PCP, acid, and even Viagra -- by his bandmate.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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… doesn't just not walk, it barely limps. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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