The Roku Channel has finally released Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, its biopic of “Weird Al” Yankovic that loosely recounts the parody musician’s life while satirizing the tropes and conventions of traditional music biopics. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Weird Al alongside Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento in a movie directed by Eric Appel from a script he co-wrote with Yankovic himself. Thanks to its sharp self-awareness and appropriately wacky style, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story has been widely praised by critics and fans alike. When it premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, it won the coveted People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness.
This is one of Weird Al’s only forays into the cinematic art form, but he’s been referencing popular movies in his songs since the very beginning. From his “Lola” parody about Yoda to his “MacArthur Park” parody about Jurassic Park, Weird Al’s discography is full of hilarious songs about movies.
7 Yoda
After The Empire Strikes Back introduced the world to Yoda, Weird Al wrote a song about him to the tune of the Kinks’ controversial 1970 classic “Lola.” Instead of describing a beautiful woman in a London nightclub, “Yoda” describes a wise old Jedi master in a Dagobah swamp.
The song recaps Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training in the second act of Empire. “Lola” opens with “I met her in a club down in old Soho,” whereas “Yoda” opens with “I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah.”
6 Theme From Rocky XIII (The Rye Or The Kaiser)
“Theme from Rocky XIII,” better known as “The Rye or the Kaiser,” is a speculative theme for the 13th Rocky movie (which, thanks to the Creed franchise, is now just a couple of sequels away). This song combines Weird Al’s two greatest loves besides polka: movie parody and food-based lyrics. Musically, it’s a spoof of “Eye of the Tiger,” Survivor’s theme from Rocky III. The lyrics predict that an aging, weakening Rocky Balboa will retire from boxing and buy out his local deli. Instead of fighting Clubber Lang to the sound of “It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight / Rising up to the challenge of our rival,” Rocky serves sandwiches to the sound of “Try the rye or the kaiser, they’re our specials tonight / If you want, you can have an appetizer.”
Interestingly, recorded way back in 1984, this Rocky franchise prediction is not too far from where the character actually ended up. In the first Creed film, a retired Rocky runs an Italian restaurant dedicated to his late wife Adrian’s memory. It’s not a deli, but it’s close.
5 Gump
In the wake of Forrest Gump’s runaway success at the box office, Weird Al recounted the film’s history-altering storyline in a spoof of the Presidents of the United States of America’s alt-rock hit “Lump.” “Lump” opens in a swamp – “Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh / Totally emotionless except for her heart” – while “Gump,” like the movie it parodies, opens on a bench: “Gump sat alone on a bench in the park / ‘My name is Forrest,’ he’d casually remark.”
A character study of Forrest himself, the parody lyrics of “Gump” focus on the film’s exaggerated portrayal of his intellect; “She’s lump, she’s lump, she’s in my head / She’s lump, she’s lump, she’s lump, she might be dead” becomes “He’s Gump, he’s Gump, he’s not too bright / He’s Gump, he’s Gump, he’s Gump, but he’s all right!”
4 Jurassic Park
When Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur-infested blockbuster Jurassic Park dominated the box office, Weird Al lampooned the movie in a musical homage to Richard Harris’ recording of Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park.” Some contemporary critics felt that the song failed to comment on the film by simply listing its major plot points, but the juxtaposition of style and subject matter works beautifully.
Weird Al uses the somber melody of the Harris classic to satirize the absurdity of Jurassic Park’s dinosaur clone amusement park plot; “MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark / All the sweet, green icing flowing down” becomes “Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark / All the dinosaurs are running wild.”
3 Spy Hard
Weird Al’s theme for the James Bond spoof Spy Hard is, appropriately, a spoof of James Bond themes. Accompanied by a pitch-perfect pastiche of Maurice Binder’s iconic Bond movie title design, Weird Al’s Spy Hard theme evokes the moody, solemn musical style that Shirley Bassey pioneered for the Bond franchise with her unforgettable Goldfinger theme.
There’s a fun play on the urban legend that Tom Jones held a note too long while recording the theme for Thunderball and passed out. In the Spy Hard theme, Yankovic holds a note for so long that his head explodes.
2 Ode To A Superhero
After Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man hit theaters, Yankovic recapped the events of the trendsetting superhero blockbuster in a spoof of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” entitled “Ode to a Superhero.” Joel’s catchy chorus goes “Sing us a song, you’re the piano man,” while Yankovic’s equally catchy chorus goes “Sling us a web, you’re the Spider-Man!”
Yankovic’s Spidey-themed lyrics point out a few of the film’s shortcomings, like its overuse of the phrase “With great power comes great responsibility” and the fact that Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin is much scarier without “that dumb Power Rangers mask.”
1 The Saga Begins
Yankovic’s second Star Wars-themed song, “The Saga Begins,” recaps the events of The Phantom Menace in the style of “American Pie” by Don McLean. “American Pie” opens with “A long, long time ago, I can still remember...” whereas “The Saga Begins” opens with “A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away...” Weird Al’s Phantom Menace parody focuses on one of the film’s biggest controversies: its depiction of the boy who would become the fearsome Sith Lord Darth Vader as an adorable young podracer who thinks spinning is a good trick.
Where McLean sings, “Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,” Yankovic sings, “My, my, this here Anakin guy!” Where McLean sings, “Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry,” Yankovic sings, “May be Vader someday later – now, he’s just a small fry.”