It may sound unlikely, but the biggest problem with Weird: The Al Yankovic story is that it isn't weird enough. The biopic about musical parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic is itself a parody, amusingly making fun of the conventions of biographical movies about musicians. It's at its best when it goes beyond that specific mockery, though, into completely oddball territory that recalls Yankovic's only previous cinematic outing, the 1989 cult classic UHF. Movies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping have already effectively satirized the self-importance of rock-star biopics, leaving Weird with fairly limited new territory to explore. Weird embraces the silliness of its subject and is full of appealingly goofy humor, but it never quite lives up to its potential.
Yankovic has been a pop-culture figure for nearly 40 years, with hit parodies ranging from "Eat It" and "Fat" to "Amish Paradise" and "White and Nerdy," and he's an influence on generations of comedians and filmmakers. That level of goodwill helped make Funny or Die's 2010 mock trailer for Weird into a viral sensation, and Yankovic teams up with the director of that sketch, Eric Appel, for the feature-length version. As numerous movies based on Saturday Night Live characters have demonstrated, it's not easy to translate a three-minute sketch into a successful feature film, although Weird benefits from drawing on the established biopic template.
Although Yankovic himself starred in UHF, he has only a small role in Weird as a disapproving record executive. Instead, Al is played by Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, the latest in Radcliffe's ongoing series of enjoyably offbeat roles. Radcliffe throws himself into the part, giving it just as much effort and enthusiasm as any other role he's played. He's outfitted in the recognizable curly hair, mustache, glasses, and Hawaiian shirts of Yankovic's early career, but he still doesn't much resemble the actual guy. That's part of the joke since Weird only barely resembles any elements of Yankovic's actual life and career, instead using him as a jumping-off point to make fun of the seriousness of music biopics.
Just like countless other artists whose life stories have been told in narrative films, this Al has a troubled childhood, with parents who disapprove of his passions and discourage him from pursuing his dreams. His stern father, Nick (Toby Huss), works at "the factory" and seemingly has a vendetta against both accordions and the idea of humorously changing the lyrics to popular songs. When young Al comes up with his first parody, changing "Amazing Grace" into "Amazing Grapes," both of his parents are appalled. Then, when a traveling accordion salesman (Thomas Lennon) shows up to the Yankovic house, Nick beats him within an inch of his life.
That's the kind of absurdity that signals just how weird Weird is going to be, although it still dutifully hits all the biopic beats as Al leaves home and begins his musical career. He gets convenient inspiration for his first major parody, "My Bologna" (based on The Knack's "My Sharona"), and meets a mentor in comedy radio DJ Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson). Those disapproving record executives, played by Yankovic and Will Forte, soon change their perspectives, and Al rockets up the charts in what seems like a week or so -- just like what happens in other music biopics.
Although the real Yankovic is known for his pleasant demeanor and scandal-free life, Weird's version of Al becomes a rock-star train wreck just as quickly as he became a success, fueled by his (entirely fictional) romance with pop megastar Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood). Within hours of meeting, they've declared their love for each other, alienated Al's bandmates and his mentor, and embarked on a musical collaboration that begins with Al's parody of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," "Like a Surgeon." The former teetotaler has become a raging alcoholic, destroying his life in a blaze of hedonism.
While the Madonna relationship could have just been one episode in a series of trysts, Yankovic and Appel make it into the center of the movie, with Wood doing a spot-on impersonation of 1980s Madonna. The more Madonna turns into a diabolical villain, the more counterfactual Weird becomes, heading into delightfully bizarre plot detours that culminate in a shootout at the headquarters of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Broad City's Arturo Castro). The Escobar sequence is Weird's highlight, resembling some of the absurdist sequences from UHF. Whenever Weird circles back to the biopic formula, it's amusing but a bit obvious, and it could have used more of these completely unhinged deviations.
Even if it's not as bold as it could have been, Weird is still endearing and fun to watch, full of classic Weird Al songs -- with Yankovic himself providing the vocals -- and tons of celebrity cameos. Even people like Conan O'Brien or Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson, who only show up to deliver a few lines, give it their full comedic effort, matching Radcliffe in his commitment to the ridiculousness. Huss and Julianne Nicholson play it admirably straight as Al's parents, adding deadpan humor to the scenes of exaggerated family drama. Weird closes with a new song from Yankovic, "Now You Know," riffing on biopics and fame and everything that the audience has just seen. It demonstrates that Yankovic's musical comedy chops are as sharp as ever, with decades of his career left to explore -- and mock. Bring on Weird 2.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story premieres Friday, Nov. 4 on The Roku Channel.