Weirdly Enough

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) was a real breath of fresh air. A warts-and-all true story of the greatest or at least most famous accordian player in a very narrow genre. Or a total goof, one or the other. 

Al starts out as a normal kid, with a normal abusive father who lost a hand at the factory. A travelling salesman (Thomas Lennon) tries to get him to buy an accordian, and gets beaten to a pulp by his dad. But his mom buys it for him and he secretly learns to play. It all goes well until some friends get him to sneak out to a teen polka party, where he is goaded into playing his accordian. But the party is busted, and he is disgraced before his parents again.

When he moved out and went to school, he was played by Daniel Radcliffe. He lived with three nice young fellows who believe in doing whatever you want. When Al says he wants to perform existing songs with new, made-up parody lyrics, they encourage him to go for it. So positive and empowering, guys. 

While making a sandwich with his balogna, he is inspired to write "My Balogna". They record it quickly in a bathroom (good acoustics) and send the tape to the local kooky radio station (note: This really happened). Of course, they don't expect overnight success - but they get it. The tape is on the air before Al gets home, and is soon the most requested song. He takes the tape to the Scotti Brothers record company (played by Will Forte and Al Yankovic himself), and is humiliated and scorned.

But his roomies don't let him despair and make sure he doesn't back out from a punk gig. When they see the tough crowd, they decide to be his backing band. They might have mentioned that they were all musicians, but it never seemed relevant. And they slay the punk crowd, including Patton Oswald with "I Love Rocky Road".

It is at this show that Al meets Dr. Demento (played Rainn Wilson, never without his tophat). The good Dr. takes Al to a celebrity pool party where he meets all the big names: Pee Wee Herman, Tiny Tim, Alice Cooper, Gallagher, Divine, Andy Warhol, etc. Then Wolfman Jack (Jack Black) turns up and challenges him to make an impromptu parody of "Another One Bites the Dust". And you know how that turned out.

But even at his peak, Al wanted to go further. The answer came when Dr. Demento gives him some LSD-laced guacamole and he decides to do only originals, no more parodies. This results in his greatest hit, the original "Eat It". But when Michael Jackson does his parody, "Beat It", Al begins to spiral.

Madonna (Evan Rachel Woods) becomes his girlfriend and a bad influence. He starts drinking heavily and it's affecting his performance. After a car crash, he comes back with "Like a Surgeon". But when Madonna is kidnapped by Pablo Escobar, he has to go Rambo.

And we all know how it ends, with Al being shot on stage by a cartel hitman. This came as a big surprise to everyone, especially Weird Al himself, who wrote and produced this.

I can't believe I just summarized 80% of this movie. 

It's always funny and never in the way you expect. Al is always in doubt, but is surrounded by positive, helpful people. He gets success overnight and Madonna for a girlfriend. He overcomes obstacles, and even his father opens up to him, telling about growing up Amish and being shunned for playing accordian. Guess what song that inspired. 

And with all the talk about originals, they only do "Eat It", and everything else is parody until the song over the credits "Now You Know". I woudn't have minded "One More Minute" or "Dare to be Stupid".

The portrayals are amazing - Al and Dr. Demento, Madonna. Al's band, just like you thought thy'd be. The pool party is brimming with cameos, which I'll let you spot or look up. And if nothing else, there are at least five great songs performed. Worth it for that alone.