Sweeney Todd: The Dewey Cox Story

I saw two new releases over the weekend and now that the Christmas dust has settled I'm finally ready to sit down and write about them. One is an out and out musical while the other prominently features music throughout. I'll say this. They ain't "Singin' in the Rain."

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street- The sixth collaboration between director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp tells the tale of a barber named Benjamin Barker, whose peaceful life was taken from him by wicked Judge Turpin (the always great Alan Rickman). Turpin had Barker arrested while he swooped in and took Barker's wife and child for his own. Well over a decade later Barker emerged as Sweeney Todd, a man out for blood.
In the opening moments of the film, Sweeney seems a sympathetic character. He even shows his gratitude to Anthony, the young man who helped him get back to London. Upon arriving Sweeney meets Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), maker of "The Worst Pies in London." After a dazzling display of shaving skill in front of a group of onlookers, Sweeney opens up a shop above Mrs. Lovett's, offering "the closest shave you'll ever know." What follows is a series of brutal series of slashings. Sweeney's main objective is Judge Turpin, especially when he hears of his wife's death and his daughter Johanna being held captive. In the meantime though, any old throat will do. Sweeney becomes consumed by hate and soon he's no more sympathetic than Turpin. The victims meanwhile end up in Mrs. Lovett's pies, bringing her establishment a sudden new popularity.
The story of Sweeney Todd has been around for almost two centuries, but the most direct source for this film is Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical. The songs (which make for most of the film's dialogue) are outstanding. This may not be a cast of born singers but they all sounded just fine to me. The look of the film is really amazing. London looks more drab and dire than I've seen on film before, which is a feat in itself. When we do see colors they play beautifully off of the pale complexions of the characters.
Several days after seeing it, I'm still having a hard time with "Sweeney Todd." Burton clearly presents much of this to us as dark comedy (just as Sondheim probably did), but it was difficult to laugh at random throat slashing. This seems an odd thing to quibble about for me, given my love of many dark comedies with similar themes. It may be that I was going into it expecting Sweeney to be more sympathetic. To their credit though, Burton and Depp don't try to soften things up for the moviegoing public. It actually makes Sweeney a more interesting character, because he has let his hate eat him alive. Maybe what makes "Sweeney Todd" a good film is the very thing that made me react to it the way I did. I think a second viewing will help. I'm not giving this a number rating purely because I don't know what I would give it. It is worth seeing for yourself though. I suppose that's endorsement enough.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story- The story of Dewey Cox is awfully similar to that of Johnny Cash. Or Ray Charles. With a bit of Brian Wilson thrown in. And don't forget the Bob Dylan. This is no accident. Writers Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan (who also directed) saw how similar the stories of famed musicians were when their lives were condensed to a two hour movie. The film they made is the first good spoof to come along in a long while. It helps that it didn't come from "two of the six screenwriters of 'Scary Movie.'"
As a young boy, Dewey's older brother Nate is a musical prodigy and the apple of their father's eye. Dewey and Nate go out to play one afternoon. As Nate puts it, "Nothing bad is going to happen today," which of course leads to Dewey accidentally chopping Nate in half with a machete. Instantly, Dewey becomes musically inclined so as to "become double-great for the both" of them. All Pa Cox (Raymond J. Barry) can say is, "Wrong kid died," which he does repeatedly.
We next see Dewey (John C. Reilly) at age 14, which is a great dig at casting actors in their forties to play high school students in biopics. The ups and downs of Dewey's life and career come fast and furious, along with the many children with his wife Edith (Kristen Wiig). Every key moment in Dewey's life is spelled out for the audience through dialogue which is a lot of the fun of "Walk Hard." And of course every one of Dewey's song titles comes from an argument he has with Edith.
Along the way Dewey gets addicted to every drug known to man (each time his drummer played by Tim Meadows tells him, "You don't want no part of this!") and he falls for backup singer Darlene Madison (Jenna Fischer). When he marries Darlene he's shocked to find that it's illegal to be married to two women at the same time. "What-What about if you're famous?" he sputters.
The jokes come fast...and hard...in "Walk Hard." Not all of them land but most of them do and when it comes to movie spoofs that's saying a lot. As for the cast, everyone is great here, Fischer and Meadows being especially impressive in the supporting cast. Reilly though has long been one of the best actors working in film. Having taken a wide range of roles in a wide range of films, he's shown that he is as versatile as they come. Finally, he has a leading role in a big Hollywood movie, and he absolutely shines.
The songs are very funny as well. Like Spinal Tap, Dewey seems to sound just like whatever is most in style at the moment. The funniest digs are at Brian Wilson ("I need more goat...and eighty didgeridoos!") and Bob Dylan ("You guys are idiots. This song is deep!"). "Walk Hard" is a very funny movie in spite of the pretty awful trailer that showed up this past summer. A lot of fun. 7.5/10.