Prime Video has just added one of the best comedy movies of recent years

Stephen Porzio

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It has been earning a lot of comparisons to the brilliant Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Comedian and musician ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is best known for his parodies of famous songs. As such, it makes sense that a movie about his life would be a parody of music biopics.

That’s exactly what the film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is, which has just been added to Prime Video and sees Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe step into the shoes of the curly-haired singer.

The plot synopsis for the comedy states that it “explores every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle”.

Co-written by Yankovic himself, Weird also co-stars Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) playing popstar Madonna and boasts a cast full of comedic actors including Conan O’Brien (The Treasure of Foggy Mountain), Jack Black (School of Rock), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Rainn Wilson (The US Office) and Will Forte (Bodkin).

Released in 2022, the movie was well-liked by critics, earning an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In particular, the film’s game lead performance by Radcliffe and its story poking fun at the conventions of music biopics have been singled out for praise, with many comparing Weird to the brilliant 2007 flick Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

You can read a sample of some positive reviews for the 2022 movie right here:

Chicago Reader: “The film’s playful parody of the genre is delightfully in tune with the legendary musician’s own work.”

Daily Telegraph: “Offers very little to which you might cling as legitimate fact, but much like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story it purloins the shape of pretty every music biopic that’s gone before.”

Independent (UK): “Radcliffe, who remains movie-star ripped for the film’s duration, is a genius casting choice. He has pitch-perfect comic timing without necessarily coming across as someone trying to tell a joke.”

Rolling Stone: “Like the artist himself, Weird knows how to make fun of something with affection, the occasionally dollop of barbed wit and a knack for making imitation seem like the sincerest form of creativity.”

The Times (UK): “Daniel Radcliffe is fully liberated and hugely entertaining as Yankovic in a film that abandons recognisable reality for crackpot set pieces that imagine the biographical origins of hits such as ‘Eat It’, ‘Another One Rides the Bus’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’.”

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is streaming on Prime Video in Ireland and the UK right now. Viewers in the US can watch it on The Roku Channel.