'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' hilariously lives up to its title

The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Yankovic, who was a primary choice for the role, according to Yankovic himself. Radcliffe is a talented actor. Initially, it seemed like an odd casting choice given the complete lack of resemblance and height Radcliffe has compared to Yankovic. Even Radcliffe was a bit baffled at why Yankovic wanted him to play himself. As he told Jimmy Fallon on the “Tonight Show,” “When I talked to Al for the first time, I was like, ‘I’m immensely flattered by the idea that you would pick me to play you. But like, why me?’ The movie is called “Weird” so, why not

Yankovic’s story begins in his youth, which seems to be the place where most biopics start.

As a kid, Yankovic has a knack for parodying songs much to the dismay of his parents. That’s not surprising as he has a love for the satirical magazine, “Mad” as shown by the poster of the magazine’s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, hanging on his bedroom wall. Despite the strict hand of his father, Yankovic’s mother buys him an accordion from a door-to-door accordion salesman who happens to stop by one afternoon. She makes him promise not to let his father see nor hear him play.

But his cover is blown after a teenage Yankovic is caught by police at an illicit polka party. Soon after, his dad finds and destroys his accordion.

Later, while Yankovic is in college, he lives with three roommates — Steve Jay (Spencer Treat Clark), Jim “Kimo” West (Jack Lancaster), and Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz (Tommy O’Brien). They later become his band members.

He auditions as an accordion player with some local bands but is turned down at every opportunity.

Hanging out in his apartment with his roommates, Yankovic receives an almost miraculous moment of inspiration while making bologna sandwiches when the song “My Sharona” by the rock group “The Knack” starts playing on the radio.

Yankovic then comes up with the lyrics for the song “My Bologna” right there on the spot.

He records his song and sends in the tape to a radio DJ. And in no time, Yankovic hears his own song playing on the radio.

After, he takes his tape to Tony (“Weird” Al Yankovic) and Ben Scotti (Will Forte) of Scotti Brother Records with hopes of signing a contract. The brothers, however, mock him and turn him down. However they’re willing to reconsider when he gains more experience, which they think is unlikely.

That’s what Yankovic does.

He performs a new food related song he wrote, “I Love Rocky Road” (a parody of Joan Jett’s 1981 rock song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”) in front of a crowd of bikers in a biker bar.

Radio personality “Dr. Demento” (Rainn Wilson), whom Yankovic listened to and admired since childhood, happens to be the audience. Impressed by the song, Demento offers to be Yankovic’s manager, and suggests the stage name, “Weird” Al.

Demento invites him to a party at his house where Yankovic is greeted to a variety of notable, perhaps weird, faces such as musician “Tiny” Tim, Pee-Wee Herman, Andy Warhol, Frank Zappa, and John Deacon (the bass guitarist for the rock group “Queen”) all of whom played by actors.

Radio DJ and Demento’s rival, Wolfman Jack (Jack Black), also happens to be present. He challenges Yankovic to come up with a parody of rock band Queen’s song “Another One Bites the Dust” on the spot.

So, in another show of miraculous and awe inspiring talent, Yankovic comes up with “Another One Rides the Bus” and sings it in front of everyone.

As Yankovic’s career and fame soar to new heights, pop star Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) pays him a visit. She suggests he write a spoof of one of her songs to help boost her record sales, also known in the music business as the “Yankovic bump.”

The two end up in a relationship, though Yankovic is unaware that Madonna is only interested in what he can do for her musical career.

At the height of success, he can’t see that Madonna is a bad influence in his life. Yankovic hits rock bottom, with a bottle of booze in hand, and lashes out at those close to him – namely his band mates and Demento. But the light of truth soon shines upon Yankovic, and he sees the error of his ways. I never thought I would ever write such a sentence.

This life story depiction is what any person pursuing fame would fantasize their life to be if they achieved the success and fortune they desire.

Since Yankovic has satirized so many artists for approximately 40 years, it’s fair to see him lampoon his own career.

He did so once before with the mockumentary, “Weird Al Yankovic: The Compleat [sic] Al” in 1985. It bears the tagline “the amazing and almost -true life story of a rock and roll legend.”

This new film, which is Eric Appel’s directorial debut, stems from a gag movie trailer, also directed by Appel, posted on funnyordie.com in 2010.

While “The Al Yankovic Story” is clearly a comedy more than biographical, it’s obvious the writers didn’t want it to completely appear as such. The film intentionally goes over the top with its hilarious belief that it deserves an Oscar. Radcliffe wonderfully turns Yankovic into the “greatest musician and sex symbol of our time” who wrote nothing but completely original hits. That last part is a running theme in the film.

The movie is sprinkled with flakes of truth while the rest is an entertaining style of weird. Yankovic’s fun-loving satirical style of humor is spread throughout. His humor doesn’t belittle.

This movie is a caricature of typical biopics of musicians. It satirizes the formula of such movies. This time, Yankovic puts himself as the butt of the joke.

He starts off as the held-back child under the thumb of overbearing parents who tell him with a straight face, “Please stop being who you are and doing the things you love.”

As expected, when his father finds and destroys his accordion, Yankovic responds, “You think you’re going to stop me from playing? You’ll see. One day I’m going to be the best... Well, perhaps not technically the best, but arguably the most famous accordion player in an extremely specific genre of music!”

He becomes successful beyond his wildest expectations. He’s adored by crowds of fans. Then he hits rock bottom. “You’re all just a bunch of normals. I am the weird one! I am the weird one,” he shouts at his bandmates. Then he climbs back to the top – wiser and still the center of “Al fever” across the globe. All this ends with a heart-tugging memorial.