John C Reilly: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

2. Dewey Cox - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

After making a hugely popular (in cult terms at least) comic swerve for Talladega Nights, Reilly cemented his silliest comic period (which also included 2008's Step Brothers, of course) with this gloriously daft spoof biopic. It doesn't quite have the subtleties of a Christopher Guest, but you can tell Judd Apatow's intention was to lampoon the lampooner just as much as the popular music figures it takes off.

Reilly is brilliant as Cox, even when the film isn't all that great or all that funny. He's easily the best thing about it (aside from the ridiculous Beatles riff), never treating the material with disdain and cutting the right balance to suggest this as an affectionate spoof of American music culture rather than a barbed take-down.

Buoyed by his charm (the warming charm of an idiot, it has to be said), Walk Hard plays like an inverted Forest Gump of music history, marred by personal foul ups and tragedy (something Reilly excels at), but still silly enough to be charming.