I love being a Gen-Xer.

Sure, our era wasn’t perfect, and neither were we by a long shot, but there was this fantastic mix of corny humor with angsty rebellion. Traffic-stopping day-glo shirts and animal print leggings mixed in with safety pinned extreme Mohawks and black leather or torn tartan pants. Man of us a pair of Vans or Doc Martins (or off-brands in my case), and we grew up with the likes of Dr. Demento on the radio, Max Headroom on the television…and Weird Al Yankovic pretty much everywhere.

Ergo, if you’re Gen-X, you’re prepared for the vibe of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. By Yankovic’s own admission, this isn’t a serious biopic, nor is it a complete look at a fictional music act a la This is Spinal Tap.

Instead, it is Yankovic’s wonderfully self-indulgent story of his rise to fame to become the most famous accordion player of all time “in an extremely specific genre of music.” And I can’t recommend it enough.

Directed by Eric Appel and written by Appel and Yankovic, this is the movie you would expect from the man who turned the song parody into an insanely successful fine art that actually boosted the sales of the artists he spoofed. I mean, if Weird Al did your song, you’re about to move a bunch more albums. That was a fact, and was probably as close to reality as Weird comes to Yankovic’s life story.

Remember the slacker dreamer with a massive imagination in his 1989 flop UHF (now a nostalgic cult favorite)? Well, we all know that was pretty much Weird Al in a nutshell, and this movie is no different.

Weird mixes the fight against authority with the capitalistic strive for success that made the 80s unique, and trapped it all into Yankovic’s dream version of himself. Yankovic has said in interviews there are “nuggets of truth” in this movie, but for the most part it is a full-length movie is based on Appel and Yankovic’s 2010 Funny or Die parody movie trailer. The bit starred Aaron Paul as Weird Al with Olivia Wilde as Madonna and Patton Oswalt as Dr. Demento.

Check it out, here:

Although Oswalt makes a cameo, the cast for the movie got a serious “next-gen” upgrade, with Daniel Radcliffe in the title role.

Whether you like the actor or not, Radcliffe did a killer job in the role. He looked like he was having a seriously fun time, and has some amazing goofball comedy chops. Same goes for Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento. He seems to have found the post-Office role he was born to play.

The plot itself it straight forward. Little Al Yankovic, misunderstood by his parents who just want him to not be himself and work in “the factory” with dad, loves listening to novelty music and hopes to be a musician himself one day. His first forbidden polka party pretty much solidifies his destiny as a rock accordionist, and his supportive roommates helped spark the inspiration for his first hit “My Balogna.”

The rest, as they say, is rock music history. The movie recounts Yankovic’s well-documented affair with that sordid opportunist Madonna. It reveals famous music acts stealing his “original music”. It shows his involvement with taking down the cartel of one of his biggest fans, Pablo Escobar. Okay, none of that happened in real life, but we wish it all did.

The “celebrity cameos” portraying other famous 70s and 80s icons are plentiful. The one-liners giving shout outs to the lyrics of his songs are continuous. This movie is exactly what those of us who always appreciated Weird Al’s lyrical genius needed. This is especially true in a time when we take everything way, way, waaaaay too seriously.

There’s family drama, and sex and drugs, action scenes, and plenty of Hawaiian shirts. There’s pool parties and on-stage breakdowns. Mostly, there’s a rock biopic parody filled with much loved music parodies.

I was hoping to hear some of his polka medleys of contemporary hits. We were treated with a bit of Ramones at least. You also need to watch until the ends of the credits for one last hilarious grab.

If you are looking for a serious biopic, skip it and watch something else. If you want mix of MAD Magazine and Zucker Brothers silliness, filled with 80s style Easter Eggs, enjoy the show.

I know I did, but hey, us Gen-Xers are a bit “weird.”

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is now streaming for free on the Roku Channel.