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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Wendy Ide

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story review – bizarre, one-joke biopic

‘Very game’: Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al.
‘Very game’: Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al. Photograph: Aaron Epstein/© 2022 The Roku Channel

This extravagantly offbeat biopic of accordionist and parodist Weird Al Yankovic was co-written by Yankovic himself. And he is not, it seems, the most reliable of sources. Starring a very game Daniel Radcliffe in a curly wig, the film invents a parallel reality in which Weird Al was a superstar-dating, drug lord-slaughtering musical sensation, who was adored and revered by all who heard his lame lyrical reworkings of 80s pop songs. It’s mildly amusing, and Evan Rachel Wood is great fun as an evil Madonna. But one joke – even a joke as bizarre as this – is not enough to sustain a whole movie.

Watch a trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
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