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At 8, Dewey Cox (Conner Rayburn) and his brother Nate (Chip Hormess) believe that they will live forever, but that doesn’t mean fighting with machetes is a good idea. Pa (Raymond J. Barry) is obviously not happy when an accident happens (the wrong kid died); Dewey is driven to be great enough to make up for them both. Nate may be gone, but his ghost sticks around until the end of the movie – a constant reminder that he’s still dead.
At 14, Dewey (John C. Reilly) discovers his ability to play the guitar and write songs and he sets off with his girlfriend Edith (Kristen Wiig), who knows he’s going to fail, but goes with him anyway. He starts on his journey to fame and the temptations that come with fame while she starts dropping babies right and left.
To show the dark side of rock and roll, the drummer in Dewey’s band (Tim Meadows) offers up the first taste of sin – starting with a little reefer and working their way through every pharmaceutical substance known to man. Darlene (Jenna Fischer) offers up the next forbidden fruit, but only if they get married (she doesn’t know about Edith and his growing brood back home).
The movie starts off on the right track with twisted humor, an activist song for midgets, and Zen mediation with the Beetles (including a trippy animation sequence under the influence). However, there are big chunks that don’t work (jokes they keep trying that never pay off) and the movie runs out of laughs and never finds the magic again. This looks like a Will Ferrell movie (down to the frizzy hair, sight gags, and the obligatory scene where he runs around in his underwear) only without Will – and unfortunately, John C. Reilly doesn’t do silly as well as Will. Still, there are moments of inspired hilarity.
John C Reilly can really sing and the songs are often amusing (including
during the closing credits) – so if you leave early, you’ll miss the one
final joke at the very end. When he does Bob Dylan or interacts to the
Beatles, the movie raises the bar for musical spoofs. There's a rap version
of "Walk Hard", the blues, songs that make you want to dance
erotically, and songs that are Satan’s music, and John deserves credit
for making them all sound good.
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