Let’s Talk About How Bad the Weird Al Movie Is

Back in March, during my epic herpes outbreak, I learned that Daniel Radcliffe would be playing Weird Al in a biopic about his life. I was like, “Now this I gotta see!” Because Harry Potter becoming Weird Al? That’s, like… wild. 

The biopic would be released on the Roku Channel November 4. Why the Roku Channel? I’ll get to that later.

Anyway, November 4 has come and gone, and I have watched Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

And…

I can’t get over how bad it was. It was so, so, very bad.

Now, I’m no Weird Al super fan, but when I was a child, I listened to an AM radio station called the Imagination Station. Weird Al was big time on the Imagination Station, so I knew a lot of his songs. When I was in 4th grade, I applied to be a DJ for a day on the Imagination Station, and I was chosen! I got a DJ name (Brilliant Brittany - lame, I know. I still have regrets), and I got to go to the station and DJ for an afternoon. I got to talk in the microphone and wear headphones and choose all the music (heavy on the Chipmunks). The next day at school, I was hot stuff. Everyone had listened to me on the radio. I reveled in my fifteen minutes of fame. 

So Weird Al? He has a place in my history. And I admit, I’m curious about his life, so I thought a biopic about him would be interesting. “Biopic” meaning a “dramatized movie about a person’s life.”

I went into Weird believing it would truly be a biopic. I really wanted to learn about Weird Al. I wasn’t sure Daniel Radcliffe could pull it off, but my heart was open.

And then…

In the first minute of the movie, there was a cameo by Lin Manuel Miranda, and I was fooled into thinking it would be the best thing ever.

Then it quickly became clear that the movie wasn’t really biographical. It was just a big, dumb joke. To put it bluntly, it reeked of Weird Al. 

It was full of cameos by people that I now just feel bad for. Weird Al, apparently, reached out to a bunch of his celebrity friends and was able to get them to agree to be in his movie. 

Are they proud of this choice? I will always wonder.

And the reason it’s on the Roku Channel is because no other streaming service wanted it. 

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m still shocked about how bad it was. 

So bad.

So very bad.

And of course, I want everyone to watch it so you can all suffer like I did. That’s probably exactly what he was going for! I will never trust Weird Al again.