* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Not only does every song on the soundtrack sound like a likely hit song from its respective era in which it was supposedly written, you're very likely to keep humming various motifs for days after you've watched the movie.
* BetterOnDVD: There's little argument that ''American Cox: The Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director's Cut'' is the [[ReCut superior version]] of the film, giving most of the jokes more breathing room and setup. That said, the filmmakers argue that its biggest drawback is how it makes Dewey out to be more of a {{jerkass}} than a well-meaning idiot than they would have liked.
* CriticalDissonance: The film carries a [[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walk_hard 74% "Fresh" rating from critics]] on Website/RottenTomatoes, while the User Score is significantly lower, at 57%.
* CultClassic: While the film underperformed, it was an AcclaimedFlop that's managed to linger in the public consciousness with a small but dedicated fanbase.
* GeniusBonus: The movie has a ton of in-jokes and stylings covering the history of rock and roll - for instance, Ringo Starr's suggestion for a song "about an octopus" is waved off by his bandmates; "Octopus's Garden" was one of only ''two'' Beatles songs where Ringo received sole writing credit. The more you know about the genres and musicians the film covers, the funnier it is.
** Dewey sawing the couch in half after a breakup? Music/JohnDenver did that in real life.
** The "Black Sheep" sequence is an obvious reference to ''Music/{{SMiLE|The Beach Boys}}'' and its legendarily troubled recording sessions. Less obvious is the fact that the line "I'm losing my fleece from trying, I'm losing no sleep, I'm dying" can be sung directly to the tune of the chorus to "Good Vibrations".
** In Jack White's cameo as Elvis, he calls himself "The King" while showing off his karate skills to Dewey. In real life, Elvis ''hated'' being called "The King" or "The King of Rock and Roll"--in his own opinion, the only person worth being called "The King of Rock and Roll" was Music/FatsDomino, and the only person worth being called "The King" was Jesus Christ.
** The old man who gives Dewey his first guitar? He's played by a real musician: David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who at the time of the film's release was [[LastOfHisKind the last surviving Mississippi Delta bluesman of the 1930s.]] He was the last person to ever see Music/RobertJohnson alive, and the scene vaguely resembles the story of Johnson's alleged DealWithTheDevil.
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Dewey reconnecting with his many, many children after his CreatorBreakdown and getting his life back on track as a result. While the [[MassivelyNumberedSiblings obscene number of children]] is played for absurdity, their actual bonding is played as genuinely sweet. Part of the montage is even scored to a lovely cover of [[Series/ThePartridgeFamily "Come On Get Happy."]]
%%* JerkassWoobie: Yeah, Dewey is a selfish asshole but considering of what happened to him...
* MemeticMutation: The movie parodies the tropes and cliches of music biopics so effectively that it's basically become impossible to make one nowadays without someone, somewhere, pointing out that ''Walk Hard'' has ''already'' made fun of it, with a handy quote at the ready to prove it.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Parodied. Despite Dewey's amazing life and countless hit songs, his life only comes together when he writes his ultimate masterpiece and plays it at his lifetime achievement award ceremony. [[TearJerker He dies three minutes after he's done.]]
* NarmCharm: Dewey's country western cover of "That's Amoré!" is clearly meant to sound [[StylisticSuck cheesy and annoying]]. It's arguably kind of cute.
* OneSceneWonder:
** Jack White as a crazy Elvis Presley yelling about karate.
** Creator/PaulRudd, Creator/JackBlack, Creator/JustinLong and Creator/JasonSchwartzman as bickering Music/JohnLennon, Music/PaulMcCartney, Music/GeorgeHarrison and Music/RingoStarr.
* QuestionableCasting: The choices to portray musicians, for the purposes of comedy. Weirdly, all the choices somehow make ''sense'' when viewed through the twisted logic of the film.
* SoBadItsGood: Dewey's rendition of "That's Amore".
* SpecialEffectsFailure: When Pa's [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe upper half]] keels over, you can see the rim of the hole in the floor where the rest of his body is. Given the nature of the movie, plus how incredibly fake his lower half looks, this was almost certainly intentional.
* TearJerker: For such a goofy movie, it has some rather tender moments.
** Dewey sings his masterpiece... then dies three minutes later. Funny as it is, the ComicallySerious framing still makes it feel like we've watched the life and times of a talented, prolific artist go out on top.
** After [[BlackComedy accidentally cutting himself in half]] while fighting Dewey, his dad realizes his mistake blaming Dewey for his brother's death. He tries to tell Dewey he loves him, but [[KilledMidSentence Dies Mid-Sentence]].

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