Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 11, 2026)
If you ever craved a film version of Weird Al Yankovic’s life and career, I bear exciting news! Well maybe, as 2022’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story presents a decidedly unconventional biopic.
As a child, Al Yankovic (Richard Aaron Anderson) wants to pursue music but his strict and controlling father Nick (Toby Huss) tries to get him to conform and work at the factory. As a teen (David Bloom) shows talent as an accordionist but after he goes to a risqué polka party, Nick destroys Al’s instrument and creates a rift between father and son.
Free from home life as a college student, Al (Daniel Radcliffe) gets more active in the music scene and eventually begins to write satirical lyrics to existing songs. This brings Al fame, fortune and problems.
I don’t know how much money Daniel Radcliffe made from his eight Harry Potter movies. However, unless his parents badly mismanaged his fees – unfortunately common for child actors – I’ll assume he snared “I don’t ever gotta work again” bucks.
I base this assessment at least partly on the roles Radcliffe took on post-Potter. He mainly went for quirky films or supporting parts in some bigger-budget affairs.
That said, I don’t know how much potential Radcliffe enjoyed to star in mainstream flicks. Five-foot-five and not conventionally handsome, he didn’t seem like leading man material.
Don’t take that as criticism of Radcliffe. Even if he didn’t appear likely to become the Next Hollywood Heartthrob, he still could’ve aimed for easy bucks via more fantasy flicks instead of the quirkier fare he usually chose.
Weird feels like a perfect choice for Radcliffe. It harnesses his talents well and allows him to fit the movie’s framework to a “T”.
Radcliffe highlights the ample comedy in Weird but he plays it essentially straight. Make no mistake: the film exists wholly as a spoof of the biopic genre, and that makes it important to get actors who generally refuse to mug for the camera.
Granted, we do find some performances that lean over the top. However, those come mainly for cameos – of which we find many – and the movie’s tone remains faux serious the vast majority of the time.
Weird doesn’t exactly pioneer the parody biopic genre, but it explores it very well. It feels most like 2008’s Walk Hard, especially since both boast less than subtle hints of 2005’s Johnny Cash flick Walk the Line.
The most obvious shared reflection of Line comes from the depiction of Al’s abusive father. In real life, Nick Yankovic apparently wholly supported his son’s aspirations, whereas the Weird version does nothing but shoot down Al’s dreams.
Walk Hard and Weird come packed with cameos and ample mockery of the biopic genre. Though I thought Walk Hard seemed spotty and too much like a conglomeration of semi-random references, Weird holds together much better.
As I noted at the start, anyone who hopes to find an accurate look at Yankovic’s life will find almost nothing factual here. Of course, no sane person would expect a movie about – and co-written by – a guy famous for parodies to provide a serious look at its subject.
Weird doesn’t even bother with an especially accurate chronology, as it plays fast and loose with the order in which Al’s life evolves. It presents Al as radically more successful than he ever actually was.
All of which plays into the gag. At times, the view of Al as the world’s biggest superstar and an arrogant jerk can threaten to grow tedious, but the film usually lands on the right side of that line.
This feels like a considerable accomplishment, as at its heart, Weird offers essentially a one-joke movie. Famously known as one of the nicest and cleanest guys in the music business, the notion of Al as an abusive drunk/addict could – and probably should – grow tiresome.
Miraculously, Weird stays pretty funny as it goes. Confession: I never found Al’s parody songs especially clever or amusing, so while he seems to be a great guy, his music leaves me cold.
The spoof aspects of Weird succeed, though, at least partly because unlike Walk Hard, it doesn’t feel like a collection of references. Too much of Walk Hard just came across like quotes of other movies or musical events without much cleverness.
A few parts of Weird lean that way – especially when it riffs on the infamous Doors concert where Jim Morrison allegedly whipped out his dick – but these moments remain infrequent. And even though that Doors moment probably should’ve provoked groans, the film tweaks it enough to become fresh.
Of course, no biopic that involves the artist’s drug-fueled collapse wouldn’t be complete without the manipulative femme fatale who encourages his worst elements. In a nutty twist, Weird posits Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) as his love interest.
Unsurprisingly, Weird completely fabricates this relationship, as apparently Al and Madonna only briefly met once. Nonetheless, this becomes an inspired choice.
It helps that Wood delivers a delicious performance as Madonna. She utterly nails the pop icon’s voice and mannerisms and brings spark to her scenes.
Weird casts an extremely broad net, one that even sends it down an 80s action flick path late in the game. None of this should work but the film turns into a pretty delightful affair.
Footnote: photos of the actual Al – Photoshopped to fit the movie’s story – appear during the end credits along with a tag scene that spoofs 1976’s Carrie. A new Weird Al song called “Now You Know” that mocks the movie’s “accuracy” ensues and carries through the actual conclusion of the film.
