Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022, dir. Eric Appel, US) by Matt Olsen

I had originally intended this post to be about the current film, Tár, starring Cate Blanchett and written and directed by Todd Field but I couldn’t answer a question about it for myself. The question is not “Is this film any good?” The film, I’m happy to report, is definitely and without question any good. 

For a long time, Cate Blanchett has been performing at the peak of her abilities (which is far beyond 90% of everyone else) but with Tár she has created new peaks. In Blanchett and Fields’ hands, the character of Lydia Tár – a globally celebrated symphony conductor – is one of the great complex, compelling, and confounding figures in film. She is aggressively vital in every scene. (Unless I’m misremembering, she appears in every scene.) Even when Blanchett’s merely sitting still, there’s an electric tension of just being alive within her that animates the screen. Likewise, the film itself is beautifully composed and filled with crackling dialogue. 

So, what’s the problem? It’s not really a problem. I don’t think. My question is given that this film is operating at such a high level, does it matter that the story is mostly by the numbers? As the events unfold, the plot seems to be heading toward a familiar outcome and, sure enough, it gets there. There are many very interesting tangential bits along the way that hint at the possibility of a broader and more unexpected narrative. But, as fascinating as those moments are, they don’t push the story in any significantly alternate direction. Also, to be clear, the specifics of the denouement are very creative and unanticipated. It’s the general arc that left me feeling perhaps a little unfulfilled. As the film drew to its close, I found myself thinking that I wished the story had started then.

But, why does that matter to me? And should it? There will be words like “powerhouse”, “tour de force” and “masterpiece” thrown at Blanchett and Tár and those will all be well-deserved. It’s a great film, made by great artists, and, maybe, if the events of the story didn’t so closely mirror so many actual real-world happenings, I may have no issue at all. I can’t answer it coherently which is why – nearly 400 words later – I chose not to write about it. But, go see it. It really is a powerhouse tour de force masterpiece.

Now, how about Weird: The Al Yankovic Story? 

Briefly, it’s a breezy, silly comedy seemingly made for no other reason than that it’s fun. The movie is filled with probably unnecessary but always welcome cameos from a legion of comedy stars. It’s a good-natured (and thematically appropriate) parody of the rock and roll biopic.

In the titular role, Daniel Radcliffe plays every scene 100% straight, never winking at the audience, regardless of the ludicrous circumstances surrounding him. It’s a terrific, confident, nothing to lose and maybe nothing to gain performance.

The film’s beginning (though obviously deeply fictionalized) feels closer to the true story in many respects than its gonzo second half. Any attempt at a pleasant relationship with actual history is soon abandoned. The jokes come much faster and with a greater degree of absurdity. My only complaint may be that too often the jokes are the same joke – namely, mocking rock biographies. When the film finds moments of humor unrelated to legend-skewering, it becomes something beyond a simple spoof. It becomes a comedy.

Matt Olsen is a largely unemployed part-time writer and even more part-time commercial actor living once again in Seattle after escaping from Los Angeles like Kurt Russell in that movie about the guy who escapes from Los Angeles.