Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

The Walk Hard DVD package contains a varied collection of material, including a commentary by director Jake Kasdan, writer Judd Apatow, John C Reilly, and executive producer Lew Morton. It is an amiable and enjoyable talk track - like listening in to a really good conversation between buddies - and the commentary illustrates just how enthusiastic they are about the film and the influential effects of Apatow. The most tantalising revelation, though, is that Sacha Baron Cohen and Stephen Merchant were both in-line to appear in the film.

Fans of the Walk Hard soundtrack are well served by the extras: there are five full music videos and a making of the music documentary on the disc. The videos feature live performances of Walk Hard (both versions), Guilty As Charged, his Dylan pastiche Dear Mr President, his disco cover of Bowie’s Starman, and the video for the hip-hop song (You Make Me so) Hard - a video which couldn’t be more filthy without being pornographic. The documentary features behind the scenes footage and interviews with the talented team of musicians (Michael Andrews who created the Donnie Darko original soundtrack produces here), as well as the cast and crew. It is an informative insight into the song-writing process and shows how much Reilly prepared to be Dewey.

The rest of the extras are more hit and miss. The deleted/extended scenes are pretty bad, mostly featuring footage culled from the Beatles scenes; the deleted scene featuring the worlds most blatant drug deal is a lot funnier. The line-o-rama is an alternate lines reel featuring some one-liner gems, while a 15-minute documentary titled The Real Dewey Cox is a bit pointless and five minutes too long. It’s one of those extras that you can imagine was very good fun to shoot but less so to watch. Still worth watching for the bits featuring John C. Reilly and Lyle Lovett, and for the line “Merryl Streep didn’t watch a baby be eaten by a dingo”.

The disc itself contains a nice array of technical options. There are a lot of language tracks (English Dolby 5:1, English audio descriptive, Czech, Hungarian, Polish) and subtitle options, and the transfer is clear and vibrant. British viewers beware - there is a region 1 unrated and extended two-disc DVD, with more material, including another commentary and more deleted/ extended scenes. One annoying point of the commentary on this disc is all the hints about American DVD. Still, unless you’re a diehard fan of Walk Hard, this DVD will serve you well.