Things Get ‘Weird’ In New Al Yankovic Biopic
(REVIEW) “Weird Al” Yankovic, the polka superstar and master of parodies, is one of the most unique artists of our time for his career of unoriginal songs. This month, Weird Al got his definitive biopic treatment that plenty of beloved musicians have received in the past few years: Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Elton John’s “Rocketman” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” come to mind. It’s only right that Weird Al’s biopic is a movie that pays complete tribute to his uniqueness.
“Weird,” released on the Roku Channel on Nov. 4, delivers that special brand of weird in every possible way.
It’s presented from the start as completely, 100% true. In this case, that means it’s barely true at all. The movie is a tale of Weird Al’s life and musical career that’s based almost entirely on falsehoods. It does this in the name of comedy, another area in which it greatly succeeds.
“Weird” stars Daniel Radcliffe — a perfect casting choice, as Radcliffe’s post-“Harry Potter” days have involved a great deal of “weird” roles — and features a whole host of celebrity cameos, from Jack Black to Lin Manuel Miranda to Andy Cohen.
It’s a tribute to a legendary artist, a satirical commentary on tired biopic tropes and a fantastic comedy all in one.
The movie’s satire and comedy are in hyperbole, over-the-top plot elevated to the point of absurdism. For those familiar with the tropes “Weird” pokes fun at or just fans of Weird Al, it’s basically perfect.
The story begins with a dramatized version of the cookie cutter tragic backstory of a tortured star. Al’s parents are religious fundamentalists, his father in particular, and opposed to his mild secular influences. At a family dinner, Al begins his own version of an iconic hymn along the lines of “Amazing Grapes” and is immediately degraded. Al gets his first accordion from a traveling accordion salesman — and when Al’s father discovers the salesman in their home, he beats the man within an inch of his life. His mother buys him the accordion, as long as he promises to only play it in secret.
Al’s gift is finally revealed in high school when he attends a wild “polka party” and is immediately beloved by his classmates for his earth-shattering polka talent. Al’s gift for polka and writing words into other people’s songs launches him quickly to international fame. But he doesn’t have what really matters: the love and support of his family.
What follows is a toxic relationship with Madonna, a near-fatal spiral into alcoholism and a whole lot more that’s so absurd it’s not even worth spoiling. “Weird” is a great movie because it’s one of few biopics that actually creates a desire to know more about the person it’s chronicling — as opposed to scores of others that get tedious and ineffective by trodding through every detail of the subject’s life.
The only part of this movie that’s actually true is Weird Al’s near-instant rise to fame and the scale at which his music is beloved by his fans. The accordion salesman thing is true, too, though he didn’t get beaten to a bloody pulp. In actuality, Al’s parents were the ones who encouraged him to play the accordion over any other instrument, as they believed it would offer him a unique edge. That it certainly did.
Yankovic only has nice things to say about his parents, who he says humored him and supported him. His father, he says, used to carry around a high school picture of him to show to complete strangers and brag about his son’s music career. Yankovic himself is known to be kind, genuine and somewhat shy.
When asked if he would consider himself a Christian, he answered only with “Yes.” Some believe he’s a Church of Christ member, though Yankovic hasn’t confirmed that himself. He’s also said that a couple from his church is featured on the “Poodle Hat” album cover.
Because of these beliefs, Yankovic doesn’t swear or drink; that kind of removes the “drunken rampage” parts of “Weird” from the realm of possibility. That both emphasizes the movie’s comedic embellishment and reaffirms Yankovic’s much-kinder real life behavior.
Ultimately, the movie is mostly at odds with its source material, and that’s a good thing.
Because it’s tongue-in-cheek about everything, the movie is often tongue-in-cheek about the fact that Weird Al’s music is popular at all. Like the rest of the jokes in the movie, fans’ love of Weird Al and his songs is elevated to a level that should seem ridiculous and false. In this case, though, that exaggerated excitement is exactly the kind of response his music heralds and deserves.
After all, who hasn’t gone a little berserk to “Like a Surgeon” or “I Love Rocky Road”? I used to have “Ebay” stuck in my head for days at a time because it’s just that catchy.
As a silly, absurd comedy, “Weird” is a perfect reflection of Weird Al’s artist persona. It just makes sense: Why would the king of parody make any biopic other than one that’s also a masterclass in parody?
Jillian Cheney is a contributing culture writer for Religion Unplugged. She also writes on American Protestantism and evangelical Christianity and was Religion Unplugged’s 2020-21 Poynter-Koch fellow. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.