‘Weird Al’ Yankovicis a certified one-man comedy institution. His career has lasted almost half a century, only one year less thanSaturday Night Live, and shows no signs of slowing down. His popularity has ebbed and flowed, but he’s achieved periods of success throughout his career, with his latest album,Mandatory Fun, being his first to hitnumber one on the Billboard charts. While most of his notoriety comes from his music and the connected videos, he’s also proven his skills as an actor, writer, and talk show band leader onComedy Bang! Bang!.
Despite his dominance over the parody song landscape, Yankvovic’s film and television endeavors have been less successful. While both are now consideredcult classics, his movieUHF(1989), and his CBS series,The Weird Al Show(1997), failed critically and commercially upon release. Thankfully, whether it’s due toUHFfinally getting the audience it deserves or his recent sales milestone, Hollywood has finally given Al another chance to make a movie after 33 years.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Storyrecently dropped on The Roku Channel to positive reviews, a nice change of pace from howUHFwas initially received. However, does that mean that the newer film is funnier? Both movies are thoroughly entertaining, but let’s compare the two to see and highlight why we need more ‘Weird Al’ movies.
UHF and Weird Have Memorable Styles
One issue that arises when comparingUHFandWeirdis that they have two very different approaches to comedy.UHF’s bare-bones plot mostly exists to loosely connect a bunch of unrelated sketches that parody movies and TV shows in style reminiscent ofThe Kentucky Fried Movie(1977) and Monty Python’sThe Meaning of Life(1983).Weird, on the other hand, is a much more coherent satireof music biopicslikeWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story(2007).
Related:Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Review: A Hilarious Satire of Musical Biopics
The distinctions between the films have a lot to do with the eras they were made as well.UHFis an unending rapid-fire barrageof jokes like the Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker spoofs of the 1980s.Weirdis neither slow nor serious, but in comparison toUHF, it takes more time to set up its jokes and waits until later in its runtime to go completely off the rails.UHFhas more jokes overall, but Weird’s humor is more deliberate in its delivery. Whether one style is funnier than the other remains up to personal preference.
The Unforgettable Casts
At first glance, it seems like a fool’s errand even to attempt to argue thatUHFhas a better cast thanWeird, which has an incredible core ensemble consisting of Daniel Radcliffe, Rainn Wilson, and Evan Rachel Wood, along with an absurd amount ofcameos and side charactersplayed by legends like Jack Black, Michael McKean, and Emo Philips and fan-favorites like Paul F. Tompkins, Scott Aukerman, and Jonah Ray.
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However, a point could be made about quality over quantity. Michael Richards and Fran Drescher both give great, early career performances inUHF, and ‘Weird Al’ is a delight as the film’s lead.Weird’s cavalcade of talent is hard to beat, butUHFpunches well above its weight in this category.
True Comedic Achievements
While each film’s entire cast and crew should be lauded for their comedic achievements, both projects shine due to the writing. Despite some problematic content that has aged poorly,UHF’s bite-sized parodies hold up incredibly well today. Whether it’s the hilariousRambosend-up or the wildly bloody saw demonstration,UHFis full of memorable scenes. Eric Appel and Yankovic also did a great job satirizing overly dramatic and self-congratulatory biopics while maintaining a level of self-awareness that never becomes annoyingly meta. While it takes the film a bit of time to truly let loose, the over-the-top third act is a ton of fun and cementsWeird’s status as a future cult classic alongsideUHF.
Despite his initial misfires, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic has made two very funny movies over his career. While it took a while for the public to come around toUHF, its reappraisal happens to coincide with the release of his second funny feature. If Yankovic had more opportunities to make films, we could make a long list to rank them. Instead, the natural inclination is to compare the qualities of these two very different films that should be a part of a more extensive filmography.
Overall, due to the sheer quantity of jokes inUHF, it’s probably the funnier film, butWeird: The Al Yankovic Storyworks better as an overall piece. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another three decades for an elderly Weird Al to release something that combines the best aspects ofUHFandWeird.
