History Film / WalkHard

* IncrediblyLamePun: Near the end, Dewey finally quits drugs, saying that he'll no longer give into "the temptations." Cue the clean-cut R&B vocal group.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: InUniverse with both "Black Sheep" and the Music/BobDylan-style songs.
-->'''Cox''': ''Puss-filled blisters, scarlet fever,\\
[[LampshadeHanging I don't necessarily understand it either]],\\
But ride the rails, Farmer Glickstein,\\
In your baby-blue bus\\

* EasilyForgiven: Dewey lies to Darlene (and probably cheats on her with AnythingThatMoves), ignores all his children, is a {{Jerkass}} and ThePrimaDonna to his band, is extremely selfish in general, but they all take him back with open arms when '''he''' needs them.

''Walk Hard'' tells the tale of Dewey Cox, a musical prodigy whose musical career spanned the 50's to the 70's. Along the way Dewey takes lots of drugs, bangs lots of groupies and eventually learns that the path to happiness lies in spending time with his dozens of illegitimate children.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: At the height of his hard drug problem, Dewey starts shouting instead of singing and telling his band to play extremely fast and dissonantly. One of his band members is disgusted by the result -- nobody's ever going to listen to this garbage, especially not with Dewey singing like some kind of "''punk''".

* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe; Dewey's lengthy and bizarre production of his masterpiece during the TheSixties is taken from Music/BrianWilson's infamous ''Music/{{Smile|TheBeachBoys}}'' album.

** Many of Dewey's other songs are also not-entirely-well-veiled references to other issues going on in his life as well (from his difficult relationship with his father to how he'd very much like to sleep with his backup singer).

** Dewey going "smell blind" is a reference to Music/RayCharles losing his sight from the trauma of seeing his brother drown.

* MaleFrontalNudity

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Dewey becomes a male version of this trope in The 70s.

* JerkassHasAPoint: In a confrontation with his first wife about his always being on the road pursuing his movie career, his wife (yet again) brings up the fact that he's doomed to failure. Dewey, who has already achieved a fairly respectable amount of success at this point, protests that "I'm actually doing quite well for a fifteen-year-old with a wife and a baby!"

* RealPersonEpilogue: Parodied. The film ends with performance footage of the "real" Dewey Cox five years before his death -- played by Reilly again, just with a realistically scratchier, more weathered voice.

* PlayingGertrude: Dewey from the age of 15 onwards is played by the then 42-year-old John C. Reilly with absolutely no effort to disguise the fact that he's being played by a middle-aged man at all stages of his life (including surrounding him with genuine teenagers).
** And as with NoCelebritiesWereHarmed, AsYouKnow is used liberally to lampshade the absurdity; at one point, Dewey's childhood sweetheart Edith describes herself as "Dewey Cox's twelve-year-old girlfriend". Edith is played by the then 34-year-old Kristen Wiig, again with absolutely no effort to disguise her age.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: Invoked during Dewey's career in the 70s, where he jumps on every conceivable bandwagon possible (disco, variety show, jogging).

* MagnumOpus: Dewey spends much of his musical career and, indeed, much of his life working on his magnum opus "Beautiful Ride," a song that encompasses an entire lifetime of ups and downs and which is so grand in scope that at various points in its creation it requires a veritable army of singers, musicians, and [[UpToEleven barnyard animals]] to perform it. Indeed, it is ''such'' a crowning achievement in Cox's life that, after its first and only live performance, [[ParodiedTrope he drops dead, his life's work complete]].

-->''I wonder if your songs will still be shit when I'm sixty-four!''
** Dewey sawing his couch in half in a fit of rage comes from Music/JohnDenver taking a chain saw to his and his wife's bed after she left him.

* HistoricalInJoke: Mostly related to 20th century pop music.

** Dewey going "smell blind" is a reference to famed BlindMusician Music/StevieWonder losing his sense of smell in a car accident in 1973.
*** Or Music/RayCharles losing his sight from the trauma of seeing his brother drown.
** And then there's "Black Sheep," Dewey's attempt to be "artsy," parodying Brian Wilson's breakdown when trying to record ''Music/{{Smile|TheBeachBoys}}''.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When Dewey's bandmates call him out on his many, ''many'' instances of {{Jerkass}} behavior such as sleeping with their wives, Sam's one complaint is that he never ''once'' paid for the drugs.

* WetBlanketWife: Parodied; practically every single thing Dewey's first wife says to him revolves either nagging him about spending more time with his family (not without cause, granted) or themed around him being a hopeless failure whose dreams of stardom will come to nothing no matter how hard he tries to succeed. Which becomes increasingly absurd when he's recording number one hits and touring the country in front of adoring crowds and she's ''still'' lecturing him on how pursuing his dreams of making music is futile and doomed to failure.

** Dewey calling all famous people by their full names. Isn't that right, Music/ElvisPresley?

** Making darn sure everybody knows exactly what famous person Dewey is encountering at that moment.

** "You're never gonna make it!"

** Dewey's first wife takes every opportunity to point out how he's going to fail at everything he tries. Even when he's clearly succeeding at everything he tries.