2009 Nominated Grammy Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media Judd Apatow, Marshall Crenshaw, Jake Kasdan & John C. Reilly for the song "Walk Hard"
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
2007 Won Sierra Award Best Song Marshall Crenshaw, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow & Jake Kasdan for the song "Walk Hard"
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
2008 Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Music in a Musical Feature Film Fernand Bos & Tom Kramer (music editors)
One of the most iconic figures in rock history, Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) had it all: the women (over 411 served), the friends (Elvis, The Beatles) and the rock 'n' roll lifestyle (a close and personal relationship with every pill and powder known to man). But most of all, he had the music that transformed a dimwitted country boy into the greatest American rock star who never lived. A wild and wicked send-up of every musical biopic ever made, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is gut-busting proof that when it comes to hard rocking, living and laughing, a hard man is good to find.
Shipped to theatres under the title "Long Way Up".
The photograph on the poster is based on the famous Joel Brodsky photo of Jim Morrison, which was used for the Best of The Doors album cover.
Edith: It's illegal to be married to two people at the same time, Dewey!
Dewey Cox: What about if, if you're famous?
Elvis Presley: It's called Karate, man. Only two kinds of people know it, The Chinese and The King. And one of them is me.
Ma Cox: I'm just so glad you learned to play the guitar so good... even without having a sense of smell!
Dewey Cox: It's okay mama, I learned how to play by ear.
Dewey Cox: Edith, I am starting to think... that maybe you don't believe in me.
Edith: I do believe in you. I just know you're gonna fail.
Country Doctor: This was a particularly bad case of somebody being cut in half.
The movie manages a couple of popcorn-spitting-funny jokes for each biographical decade the film covers, though typically it's no better than moderately clever. Reviewed by: Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail (Toronto).
The film is more funny ha-ha than LOL; it’s a smarty-pants satire that mocks and embraces almost every cliché in the biography playbook. Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis of The New York Times.
The tricky thing about parody movies is that the jokes get old fast and they're hit-and-miss. Walk Hard, a spoof of every musical biopic from "Ray" to "Walk the Line," is guilty on both counts. How lucky that when the jokes do hit, they kick major ass. Reviewed by: Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.
Reilly is required to walk a tightrope; is he suffering or kidding suffering, or kidding suffering about suffering? That we're not sure adds to the appeal. Reviewed by: Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times.
This burlesque of biopic clichés flounders from one setup to the next without the engine that drives the genre: a strong central character. Reviewed by: Jim Ridley of The Village Voice.
Raunchy biopic parody isn't for younger teens. Parents need to know that, like most comedies produced by Judd Apatow, this spoof of music biopics is a pretty hard-R affair. There's full-frontal male nudity (including at least three close-ups of male genitalia), several shots of bare-breasted women, and lots of sexual innuendo. The main character is introduced to (and takes) almost every kind of drug -- pot, pills, acid, cocaine, you name it. There are also several off-color Jewish jokes (about them running showbiz, for instance), African-American stereotypes, and plenty of strong language. A few violent scenes are played for laughs (including two that show people who've been sliced in half by a machete). Reviewed by: Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media.
