Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story

From Control (Ian Curtis and Joy Division) to Walk The Line (Johnny Cash), the music biopic has always just teetered on the over-reverential.

So it's about time someone like Dewey Cox "walked hard" into the local cinema to lampoon the rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags-again sagas of rock'n'roll's hall of fame.

Cox, as played with full-bodied relish by John C Reilly, is a troubled troubador fired by an early childhood tragedy when he cut his brother in half with a machete.

Constantly taunted by his bullying pa that the wrong brother died, the 14-year-old Dewey (still played bizarrely by O'Reilly) sets out on the trail to fame and fortune.

A lucky break in a black club that specialises in "erotic dancing" sees Dewey - cursed by, erm, no sense of smell - rattling down the potholed road to rock'n'roll excess.

With America's current comedy king Judd Apatow both writing and producing, this falls neatly into the recent line of sharp comedies including Knocked Up and Superbad.

O'Reilly - normally the scene-stealing support - makes a compelling lead, joyously cranking up full use of a script boasting more than its fair share of crackling one-liners.

Highlights include Dewey's double-entendre drenched duet with Jenna Fischer -"I dreamt you blew me...some kisses" - and the repeated scene where he ups his drug intake courtesy of his dope-dealing drummer.

However, the comedy icing comes with an hilarious run-in with "The Beatles" in India as played by Jason Schwarzman (Ringo), Paul Rudd (John), Justin Long (George) and, er, Jack Black as Paul.

It's good-natured, knockabout fun with more than a hint of pin-point accuracy at a genre which tends to get weighted down by its self-worth.

You could even convince yourself you've heard a rock legend utter the line: "You can take my children...but leave me my monkey."

Tim Evans