The traditional musician biopic, with its rags-to-riches beginning and its fall-from-grace conclusion, is a genre that's always in need of a remix. Or just skip them both, yell 'doody!' and fire up Caddyshack for the 100th time. For a more complete look at the National Lampoon era, watch the 2015 documentary Drunk Brilliant Stoned Dead. At times, the movie seems distracted by the endless parade of familiar actors and comedians cast as real-life figures, such as Joel McHale as Chevy Chase and Paul Scheer as Paul Shaffer, but even comedy nerds who already know this stuff cold will enjoy seeing Forte work. This Netflix biopic, directed by David Wain and starring Will Forte, tells the story of his decade-long rise from Harvard wit to disillusioned Hollywood scriptwriter, and it nearly succeeds in making you understand what made Kenney tick. Yet Doug Kenney, who fell or jumped to his death in Hawaii a month after the release of the 1980 golf classic, remains woefully obscure, perhaps by his own design. You'd think that a guy who co-founded the legendary humor magazine National Lampoon and co-wrote two movies quoted more often, we're pretty sure, than the Bible (1978's Animal House and 1980's Caddyshack) would be a household name. Admittedly, some might feel squeamish about how this movie makes light of the people Lewan cheated - and it doesn't help that there's a weird quarter-baked redemption arc near the end - but at the end of the day, this is a vehicle for Black to show off his nonpareil charisma.

Joining him for this surreal rise-crash-rise of an American dream are a potent Jenny Slate (playing Lewan's wife), a wonderfully lame Jason Schwartzman (Lewan's faithful BFF), and a flat-out phenomenal Jacki Weaver (Lewan's mother-in-law).

Stepping up as Lewan is Jack Black, channeling the same madcap charm he did in School of Rock combined with the offbeat charismatic criminality of his performance in Bernie. Though director Maya Forbes and co-writer Wally Wolodarsky play a bit fast and loose with the facts, The Polka King ultimately delivers a story as oddly infectious and entertaining as the music at its heart. It's likely not many people know about Jan Lewan, the real-life Polish émigré who settled in Pennsylvania and started a Ponzi scheme to fuel a fraudulent polka empire.

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