Modern film parodies have a tendency to deliver cheap and tasteless jokes that even some lowbrow moviegoers have a difficult time digesting.

Writer/producer Judd Apatow has raised the bar a notch with Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a riff on recent music legend biopics, which chronicles the life and times of fictional crooner Dewey Cox, an obvious mishmash or Ray Charles and Johnny Cash with dashes of a few other same-era singers thrown in for good measure.

The gags are a little hit and miss, but when they're on -- like a scene in which Jack Black, Jason Schwartzman, Paul Rudd, and Justin Long make uncredited, laugh 'til you wheeze cameos as the Fab Four -- they make for some of the loudest laughs you'll have all year.

And unlike the heroes of most movie parodies, our hapless protagonist is played by an elegant and wonderfully gifted actor in the form of veteran comedian John C. Reilly (he actually sings all of his own songs, including the undeniably catchy titular track).

Indeed, don't be surprised if, despite his ridiculous extramarital shenanigans and accidental murders, you actually find yourself empathizing with dimwitted Dewey and hoping he eventually makes good.

As with most Apatow DVDs, the two-disc unrated version of Walk Hard is crammed with bonus goodies, including an extended version of the film with several minutes of extra footage -- though, unfortunately, none of the bonus scenes are particularly memorable.

It also contains all of the film's original, shockingly good songs, plenty of deleted scenes, a bonus Dewey Cox Christmas track, and an often-hilarious commentary with the film's producers, writers, star, and director.
 

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