I'm no 'Coxologist,' but this Walk the Line parody really, umm, grows on you.
But that's about the only place the "Unbearably long, self-indulgent director's cut" bogs down. The extra 24 minutes comes mostly from extended and alternate scenes, including brief flashbacks, longer musical numbers, more psychedelic studio scenes, and more Dewey Cox Show scenes (including a duet with model Cheryl Tiegs). I can't say that the extra 24 minutes makes the film stronger, but it also doesn't make it less successful. There's a little more innuendo slipped into the director's cut, but nothing that you haven't already seen or heard before. Ultimately, it'll be a matter of choice (or mood), and I credit Sony for actually making both versions available on the same disc. I will say this, though: the main menu screen has a "play movie" option, which I thought would take me to a choice of versions. Instead, the theatrical version started to play when I clicked on it. If you want to watch the director's cut you have to access it through special features, same as the commentary track.
"Walk Hard" is rated "R" for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language.
Video:
Both versions are mastered in High Definition and look pretty good for a DVD. Colors are bright and bold in high-lit interior scenes, and there's still a decent amount of detail in dark or shadowy moments. Stage scenes actually look less grainy than the film they're parodying. "Walk Hard" is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen.
Audio:
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 is robust enough to deliver a rich-sounding audio with a nicely edited balance of music, dialogue, and ambient sounds. There's not much in the way of rear-speaker effects, but when the concert material kicks in, all of the speakers wake up. Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish.
Extras:
There are piles of extras, including eight full song performances and a number of extended ones for "Gamblin' Man," "Walk Hard," "(I Hate You) Big Daddy," "A Life Without You," "Let's Duet," "Guilty as Charged," "Dear Mr. President," "The Mulatto Song," "Royal Jelly," "Hey Mr. Old Guy," "Farmer Glickstein," "Billy Don't be a Hero," "Starman," "(You Make Me So) Hard," "My Girl" (performed by The Temptations) and "Walk Hard" (performed by the All-Star Band).
Included here are 20 minutes of deleted/extended scenes (nine of them) with the longest being a Beatles routine and Eddie Vedder appearing at the Lifetime Awards. There's also something like a gag reel that's called "Line-o-Rama" (which basically is a compilation of funny lines), and a Cox Sausage commercial with in-character fake outtakes. Also included are early song demos sung by the composers. And for those who can't get enough, there's "Tyler Nilson: A Coxumentary" about the in-character stuff, and another short feature about the guy who responded to a call for a young male actor to literally let it all hang out. "The Last Word with John Hodgman" and a bonus feature on "The Music of Walk Hard" cover more Cox bases, while there are plenty of in-character bits, including "The Real Dewey Cox." All of them, with the exception of the musical numbers, are fairly short (under 10 minutes) and generally okay but not great.
I most enjoyed a straight "making of" feature and a lively commentary track with Kasdan, Apatow, Reilly and Lew Morton. There's some nice energy here, some laughs, and enough anecdotes to satisfy most fans.
Bottom Line:
I'm no "Coxologist," but this "Walk the Line" parody really, umm, grows on you. I laughed at a number of places the first time I watched it, and appreciated it all the more the second time through. I think if you go into it expecting to laugh uproariously every minute, you'll walk away wishing it were funnier. But if you watch with an open (well, make that BLANK) mind, it can seem like a real hoot and a half. And it's great to be able to have both the theatrical version and this "Unbearably long, self-indulgent director's cut" on the same disc.
"Walk Hard" is rated "R" for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language.
Video:
Both versions are mastered in High Definition and look pretty good for a DVD. Colors are bright and bold in high-lit interior scenes, and there's still a decent amount of detail in dark or shadowy moments. Stage scenes actually look less grainy than the film they're parodying. "Walk Hard" is presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen.
Audio:
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 is robust enough to deliver a rich-sounding audio with a nicely edited balance of music, dialogue, and ambient sounds. There's not much in the way of rear-speaker effects, but when the concert material kicks in, all of the speakers wake up. Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish.
Extras:
There are piles of extras, including eight full song performances and a number of extended ones for "Gamblin' Man," "Walk Hard," "(I Hate You) Big Daddy," "A Life Without You," "Let's Duet," "Guilty as Charged," "Dear Mr. President," "The Mulatto Song," "Royal Jelly," "Hey Mr. Old Guy," "Farmer Glickstein," "Billy Don't be a Hero," "Starman," "(You Make Me So) Hard," "My Girl" (performed by The Temptations) and "Walk Hard" (performed by the All-Star Band).
Included here are 20 minutes of deleted/extended scenes (nine of them) with the longest being a Beatles routine and Eddie Vedder appearing at the Lifetime Awards. There's also something like a gag reel that's called "Line-o-Rama" (which basically is a compilation of funny lines), and a Cox Sausage commercial with in-character fake outtakes. Also included are early song demos sung by the composers. And for those who can't get enough, there's "Tyler Nilson: A Coxumentary" about the in-character stuff, and another short feature about the guy who responded to a call for a young male actor to literally let it all hang out. "The Last Word with John Hodgman" and a bonus feature on "The Music of Walk Hard" cover more Cox bases, while there are plenty of in-character bits, including "The Real Dewey Cox." All of them, with the exception of the musical numbers, are fairly short (under 10 minutes) and generally okay but not great.
I most enjoyed a straight "making of" feature and a lively commentary track with Kasdan, Apatow, Reilly and Lew Morton. There's some nice energy here, some laughs, and enough anecdotes to satisfy most fans.
Bottom Line:
I'm no "Coxologist," but this "Walk the Line" parody really, umm, grows on you. I laughed at a number of places the first time I watched it, and appreciated it all the more the second time through. I think if you go into it expecting to laugh uproariously every minute, you'll walk away wishing it were funnier. But if you watch with an open (well, make that BLANK) mind, it can seem like a real hoot and a half. And it's great to be able to have both the theatrical version and this "Unbearably long, self-indulgent director's cut" on the same disc.
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