Overview
It was back in September 2022 that Weird: The Al Yankovic Story first hit screens, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival with its happily ridiculous take on its namesake's life, and with Daniel Radcliffe (The Lost City) sporting a mop of curls to play the titular part. And, it was in November last year that the film became available to stream in the US, releasing via The Roku Channel.
Since then, however, there has been no sign of the movie Down Under. That is, unless you took Weird Al's advice. The man himself noted on Twitter at the time that "Roku's working on it. In the meantime there's VPN (Very Probably No) way to watch it legally. I'm sure you have a TORRENT of other questions, but I have to move along, sorry."
Roku's working on it. In the meantime there's VPN (Very Probably No) way to watch it legally. I'm sure you have a TORRENT of other questions, but I have to move along, sorry.
— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) November 5, 2022
Thankfully, come Thursday, March 2, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will finally hit streaming in Australia thanks to Paramount+. When you're not getting yourself and egg and beating it, you might want to mark that date in your diary. This is the 100-percent Weird Al-authorised take on his own accordion-playing existence, so expect 'weird' to be the word in more ways than one.
Indeed, in too many music biopics to count, a star is born — and also rises to fame after putting their talents towards a dream that's inspired them as long as they can remember. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story follows that same formula, but also parodies it. It wouldn't be a movie about Weird Al if it didn't take something that already works, then give it a satirical spin, now would it?
"My whole life, all I wanted was to do... was make up new words to a song that already exists," Yankovic, as played by Daniel Radcliffe (The Lost City), says Weird's full trailer — which, yes, looks gloriously ridiculous. This line bookends glimpses of a childhood Al happily thumbing through accordion magazines and getting caught at a polka party. In other words, this humorous look at the man behind oh-so-many humorous songs takes the exact approach a film about Weird Al really has to.
Viewers can also expect: accordions, obviously; recreations of Weird Al's film clips and live performances; oh-so-many Hawaiian shirts; chaotic meetings with Madonna, as played by Westworld's Evan Rachel Wood; and origin stories behind tracks like 'My Bologna' and 'Like a Surgeon'.
Beneath wire-framed glasses, those shirts, that hair and Yankovic's instantly recognisable moustache — and in a piece of casting that seems like it jumped straight from the internet — Radcliffe looks to be having the time of his life as the musician behind 'Another One Rides the Bus', 'Smells Like Nirvana' and 'Amish Paradise', plus comedic riffs on pretty much every other big song of the past four-plus decades that you can think of.
Yankovic is one of the screenwriters, alongside director Eric Appel (a TV sitcom veteran with Happy Endings, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and top-notch cop-show parody NTSF:SD:SUV on this resume). If the man in the spotlight's career has taught us all anything apart from the wrong words to pop hits, it's that he doesn't take a single thing, including himself, seriously.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will hit Paramount+ in Australia with perfect timing, because Yankovic is touring the country in March, playing Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.
Check out the trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story below:
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will stream in Australia from Thursday, March 2 via Paramount+.