Weird Al brings us a suitably wacky satire of the sleazy tell-all rock’n’roll biopic, while also having some fun with his own squeaky-clean public image. In Weird, we learn all about his abusive childhood, his secret obsession with polka parties and Hawaiian shirts, his fiery encounter with Pablo Escobar and his many wild, drunken orgies with “Like a Virgin” era Madonna. It’s an absurd fiction, of course, no truer than his resemblance to a frequently bare-chested Daniel Radcliffe, but half the fun lies in those wild, increasingly drastic, departures from reality.
I had a vague memory of this idea in its formative phase, way back in the bygone year of 2010 (ancient history where internet memes are concerned), when a joke teaser of the same name was first posted to the Funny or Die website. Revisiting it now, I’m not sure the full-length treatment was necessary. That trailer hits all the essential bits in a mere three minutes, even a winking cameo from the real Weird Al as a snide record executive, and gets out before the joke can wear thin. That’s where I think Yankovic’s brand of humor works best - bite-sized - and why his songs (not to mention his first starring role, the manic UHF) have weathered the test of time. We barely get a chance to breathe before the scene shifts and we’re on to the next topic. Not the case with Weird, which leans hard into the trappings of the genre it parodies and leaves slack between the bigger laughs. It starts strong and finishes with a bang, sprinkling a wealth of surprise cameo appearances throughout, but I was left wishing for more consistency.
Review by drqshadowBlockedParent2022-11-17T20:09:24Z
Weird Al brings us a suitably wacky satire of the sleazy tell-all rock’n’roll biopic, while also having some fun with his own squeaky-clean public image. In Weird, we learn all about his abusive childhood, his secret obsession with polka parties and Hawaiian shirts, his fiery encounter with Pablo Escobar and his many wild, drunken orgies with “Like a Virgin” era Madonna. It’s an absurd fiction, of course, no truer than his resemblance to a frequently bare-chested Daniel Radcliffe, but half the fun lies in those wild, increasingly drastic, departures from reality.
I had a vague memory of this idea in its formative phase, way back in the bygone year of 2010 (ancient history where internet memes are concerned), when a joke teaser of the same name was first posted to the Funny or Die website. Revisiting it now, I’m not sure the full-length treatment was necessary. That trailer hits all the essential bits in a mere three minutes, even a winking cameo from the real Weird Al as a snide record executive, and gets out before the joke can wear thin. That’s where I think Yankovic’s brand of humor works best - bite-sized - and why his songs (not to mention his first starring role, the manic UHF) have weathered the test of time. We barely get a chance to breathe before the scene shifts and we’re on to the next topic. Not the case with Weird, which leans hard into the trappings of the genre it parodies and leaves slack between the bigger laughs. It starts strong and finishes with a bang, sprinkling a wealth of surprise cameo appearances throughout, but I was left wishing for more consistency.