Ever wonder how the most famous parody songwriter got his start? You won’t find the answer in Eric Appel’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking a walk on the wacky side.

Inspired by a fake trailer (think 2011’s Hobo with a Shotgun) Appel produced in 2010, positive reception led him and Yankovic to collaborate on a feature-length biopic. “Biopic,” of course, is used extremely loosely. The only semblance you’ll find of the artist is his hair, humor and accordion.

Weird isn’t a pioneer in satirical, musical biopics. Jake Kasdan did it back in 2007 with Walk Hard — just two years after the genre’s archetypal flick, Walk the Line. While Kasdan’s take pokes at the template to a T, Weird does away with that tomfoolery. Or rather, it does away with everything but the tomfoolery.

Al (Daniel Radcliffe) dreams of making beloved songs “better” by rewriting the lyrics, much to the frustration of his cookie-cutter parents (Toby Huss and Julianne Nicholson). After rejecting his dad’s demands to work at a factory that makes something, Al’s mentored by his childhood hero, Dr. Demento (The Office’s Rainn Wilson). And then he dates Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood).

Following in the steps of Weird Al’s first movie, 1989’s UHF, the gags are relentless. Radcliffe is a natural to physical comedy, at times taking more of a beating than he did in Swiss Army Man. This is especially evident in his lip-synced performance of “Like a Surgeon,” complete with two muscle-bound dancers struggling to dance with Madonna-inspired cone bras.

And though Weird doesn’t make even the slightest effort to portray Yankovic’s tale, it doesn’t need to. Instead, it’s a showcase of his greatest hits, each paired with their own secret history. The backstories of “Eat It” and “Amish Paradise” are zany, outlandish and even touching. Thankfully, “White and Nerdy” is nowhere to be heard.

Anyone who wants to actually learn something about artist’s career are better off reading Nathan Rabin’s Weird Al: The Book. But if you want to experience what Yankovic intended — to laugh your ass off — it’s hard to go wrong with Weird. —Daniel Bokemper