WEIRD: THE AL YANKOVIC STORY (Roku – November 4): A comic book fantasia of a celebrity “biography,” Eric Appel’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (co-written with Yankovic himself, who’s also one of the producers), takes some fragments about the parody musician’s life and work, and transforms them into a nonstop array of gags that range from hilarious to labored. In this telling, Weird Al (played by a very game Daniel Radcliffe) battles to live his truth as an artist who affixes his comedy lyrics to hit tunes, pushing past his disapproving dad (Toby Huss) and skeptical record company executives (including Will Forte as the most dismissive of them all). He proves them all wrong with his beloved accordion and help from his mentor Dr Demento (Rainn Wilson), creating deathless classics like “Another One Rides the Bus” and “My Bologna,” which according to Weird made him an even bigger star than the original songs’ artists–until Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), the ultimate femme fatale, schemed to have him service her catalogue, so to speak. Her nefarious tactics included having Michael Jackson appropriate Weird Al’s prized and wholly original song “Eat It” into “Beat It.” That’s a funny bit, and there are plenty of others (it’s a running gag that no one including Al’s dad knows exactly what they make in the factory where he works). But Weird started life as a shortform Funny Or Die video, and by the time it stretches its 108 minute running time to include Pablo Escobar and a riff on Carrie, the feature is running on fumes. A sold-out Midnight Madness show in Toronto, with 1000+ people screaming at every one of its very many cameos, was the perfect spot for Weird. When it settles in on the Roku Channel, it’s likely to feel a lot more niche. Of course, as Weird would be the first to tell you, people have underestimated Al Yankovic before.
CORSAGE (IFC): A stylized and fictionalized depiction of a short period in the life of Austro-Hungary’s 19th Century Empress Elisabeth (Vieky Krieps). Marie Kreutzer’s film presents Elisabeth as a modern woman before her time, accentuated by anachronistic visuals and soundtrack choices. Elisabeth bristles at the male aristocrats and diplomats who insist on keeping her in her place, and she not only takes her own lovers but actively assists her husband the Emperor’s dalliances. But the film finds her as she reaches the age of 40, a difficult moment for a celebrity known for her beauty and slender form, and things begin to fall apart for Elisabeth during the ensuing year. Krieps, playing a woman far more public than her breakout role in Phantom Thread, brings that performance’s inner steel to Elisabeth, and also an increasing layer of despair, resulting in a climax that departs markedly from the historical record. Kreutzer’s vision is realized beautifully on what was probably a limited budget by cinematographer Judith Kaufmann, production designer Martin Reiter, and costume designer Monika Buttinger. However, her script doesn’t develop other characters on the same level as Elisabeth, and as a result Corsage finds it difficult to maintain dramatic momentum. Neither as daring as Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette nor as psychologically revealing as The Crown, Corsage occupies a royal middle ground.
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