Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a very funny joke spread just about to its breaking point. For some, the one-joke nature will wear thin long before the credits roll, but the entire team's complete commitment to the clever concept should make it a cult comedy classic for others. The previews setting up expectations for Superbad-level cleverness could lead to audience disappointment, but Walk Hard will hold up well over time and on repeat viewing, making it a decent theatrical option and giving it a bright future on DVD. From first note to last, it feels like the kind of movie that will play late nights in dorm rooms for decades to come. College kids need dumb comedies and Walk Hard features very smart people playing dumb just right.

John C. Reilly and the writers behind Walk Hard have basically made a note-for-note parody of Walk the Line with a little Ray on the side. We first meet Dewey as a child, having a machete fight with his brilliant older brother. After that goes predictably, Dewey goes through almost every one of the Johnny Cash landmarks including a father who resents him, a wife (Kristen Wiig) who doesn't support him, and a sexy duet partner (Jenna Fischer) who becomes his true love. And, of course, there's the drugs. And the full-frontal male nudity. Walk Hard is closer to a parody like the Naked Gun movies than your typical Apatow fare and, like those movies, it's a case of such a high jokes-per-minute ratio that there's a very high number of both hits and misses. There are some jokes that definitely don't work and the concept feels stretched to fill its running time, but for every joke that doesn't work, there's a moment or a song that fills the gap. In fact, the songs in Walk Hard are the highlight, particularly the title track, "Let's Duet," and the song I truly hope gets an Oscar nod, the capper to the film, "Beautiful Ride." Watching John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox spear the far-too-often Oscar-winning biopic genre on the actual stage would be the highlight of the show.

Reilly bravely plays the title role in Walk Hard and gives his typical all to the part, holding back nothing. His gawky physicality, awkward voice, and unique comic timing are the key to why Walk Hard works as well as it does. Who else could sing a song like the title track and sell it but the man who sang "Feel My Heat" in Boogie Nights? The underrated Reilly is one of those rare actors who can segue smoothly through all genres and his work alone makes Walk Hard worth seeing. It's a one-man show telling one-joke, but it's a damn talented man and it's a pretty funny joke.