A Mighty Wind

Rating:
Summary: Something in the "Wind"
Review: Folk music is something that a lot of people have fond memories of, but isn't touched on as often as rock or rap. Christopher Guest of "Spinal Tap" and "Waiting for Guffman" fame now presents his take on the folk music. This is one song that will get stuck in your head -- and you'll like it, too.

Folk-music producer Irving Steinbloom has died, and his son Jonathan Steinbloom (Bob Balaban) wants a tribute to dear dad -- a concert of the folk stars and groups of yesteryear. Among them the Folksmen, Mitch and Mickey, and the New Main Street Singers. (They never existed, for your information) Of course, it won't be quite as easy as anyone hoped.

Mockumentaries are always fun when they're done well. In clumsier hands than Guest's, this could have been a disaster of epic proportions. But it isn't -- it's cute, funny, entertaining and excellently-acted. And despite the fact that I was not alive during the 1960s heyday of folk (and prefer more exotic, eclectic music), I liked the singing of the sweet-natured songs like "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow." Like Peter Jackson's affectionate old-movie tribute "Forgotten Silver," this movie is sometimes so real that you almost forget it isn't.

Guest (the director and one of the writers as well as the star) is immensely likable as Balaban is entirely believable as the pretty neurotic Jonathan (the chess thing is quite weird). Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are also excellent as a pair of ex-folk singers (and ex-loves) who are reunited for the concert, alternately funny and poignant. Fred Willard is immensely entertaining as an attention-obsessed road manager.

The writing is excellent, very believable; dialogue is likewise good. Some fans from the original folk-music era may be a little ticked off that social and political commentary is kept to a minimum, but I preferred it that way. With commentary like that, less is more. The humor is restrained in some quarters (the script) and unrestrained in others (Willard), but it's also very eclectic: Everybody is funny, but in different ways. (For example, the "Witches of Nature's Colors" -- nuff zed!) The humor isn't stupid or crude, but it appeals to the audience rather than looking down on them. The feeling of it is friendly and affectionate, to the audience as much as the folk artists it spoofs.

Satire is a much-neglected field of moviemaking, but Christopher Guest gives us a "mighty" example of what it should be like. Lovely movie, definitely worth the viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Christopher Guest and friends
Review: Let's get right to the main question any Christopher Guest fan will ask: How does this stack up to WAITING FOR GUFFMAN and BEST IN SHOW? The answer is that while not as funny as the latter, it is very, very successful. I can't imagine anyone liking either of those films not loving this one. It is, of course, a bit of a misnomer to call this merely a Christopher Guest film. While he clearly is the principle organizer, this was very definitely a group effort, with a brilliant ensemble cast engaged in a great deal of improvisation. Every single performer from BEST IN SHOW manages to return for A MIGHTY WIND, and all manage to be as good as they were before.

The film itself is heavily indebted to the folk documentary classic THE WEAVERS: WASN'T THAT A TIME!, in which the original Weavers reunited for a concert at Carnegie Hall. The figure for whom the concert is given is lightly based upon folk archivist Harry Smith. The songs themselves are all hysterical satires on typical songs from the more mundane elements of the folk movement. Today, the better representatives of the folk revival--the Harry Smith collections, Phil Ochs, the Weavers, Joan Baez, the very early Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, etc.--are remembered, but too many don't remember just how dreadful the majority of the performers were. So, in this film we have a song in which the endless number of "wandering" songs are parodied, in this case the song's narrator explaining that he has never traveled at all ("Never Did No Wanderin'"). In another instance, another of those endless references to the Spanish Civil War is made. Or, as one person sings the lyrics of a song, another provides a simultaneous translation. Or, in the Folksmen's lone hit, "Eat at Joe's," the chorus gets longer and longer and longer following each verse. And the title song features double entendre lyrics that makes it a song more in the spirit of PORKY'S or REVENGE OF THE NERDS than a folk documentary. The fact that all of the songs are very well performed in straight fashion makes them all the funnier.

I'm a little worried that some people found Eugene Levy's character to be funny. At best, I found his character to be disturbing. In general, his perpetually-on-the-edge-of-a-nervous-breakdown brought a high level of nervous tension to the film. This wasn't a bad thing, since it brought a darkness and precariousness to the live performance that it would otherwise have lacked. I really don't think his part was meant to evoke many laughs. An excellent job, however. The rest of the cast was just impeccable. My favorite performer might have been John Michael Higgins, who plays the leader of the New Main Street Singers. His barely contained facial tics and tremors as his wife, played by Jane Lynch (the poodle handler from BEST IN SHOW), tells of her various adventures in the seventies and of her religious beliefs are just hysterical.

All in all, a very great time. After three truly unique and funny films, I hope Guest is able to reassemble the entire crew for another film.

Rating:
Summary: Mighty Funny
Review: I think you are either a Christopher Guest / Eugene Levy fan or you are not. This effort compares positively to "Best In Show" and "Guffman". They use the same mockumentary style which has served them so well in the past. The ensemle cast is again golden. Fred Willard and Harry Shearer are particularily outstanding. Offbeat comedy at it's best.

Rating:
Summary: Affectionate parody that rings true
Review: It's obvious that some of the creators of A Mighty Wind had experience with the folk music scene of the 60s. Only an informed and affectionate parody could skewer so neatly the singers of the sweetly sunny, superficial folk music that made up so much of the 1960's.

Other viewers have noticed that the darker, deeper, more socially relevant threads of folk music are not touched in this film and intentionally so! This film is making hilarious fun of a different strain of folk music, the "rainbow-and-unicorn," "wanderin' man," "never been near the ocean" sea shanty, type musicians who leaned more to polyester sweater vests than changing society. And yet these characters are so appealing, so well meaning, and so darn likeable, that you may laugh at them but will still wish them well.

Although hysterically funny, this movie is never mean spirited or vicious. And the music rings so true, and is performed so well, that unless you listen VERY carefully, you may not catch that the new songs are sly parodies of old standards. ("Old Joe's Place" describes an imaginary diner that has "a puppy in the parlor and a skillet on the stove and a smelly old blanket
that a Navajo wove" whose broken neon sign reads "Ea a oes.")

The Folksmen group featured in the film, is in fact made up of the creators of the film, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean, and have actually performed before. The Folksmen appeared as the opening act for Spinal Tap, the parody heavy metal band that was made up of the SAME people, and were booed off the stage by fans not realizing the Folksmen was a parody group. As Harry Shearer put it, the Folksmen had the unique experience of being booed off the stage "in favor of...OURSELVES!"

Rating:
Summary: Right on the money
Review: This latest entry from the Guest ensemble has hit the mark for folk music. The soundtrack, which I also highly recommend, better shows off the relentless parody of the folk music values. The movie better shows the sheer earnestness of the sixties folk music scene. From the relentlessly clean cut New Main Street Singers, all of whom seem to be seriously weird in real life, to the passionate Folksmen, whose songs are all about lack of achievement or fantasy, to the overblown romanticism of Mitch and Mickey, the mores of folk music are mocked relentlessly. The contrast between reality and the music makes for an ongoing ironic commentary.

Those who remember the folk music era will especially appreciate this movie. You will remeber these acts even as you meet them for the first time. I love folk music. I love this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Christopher Guest's Best Film Yet
Review: Since its release on Wednesday I have seen this film twice. I expect to see it several times more. Simply put, I believe that "A Mighty Wind" is the best film Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy have made. It may not deliver the most obvious jokes and provide the easiest laughs, but what it lacks in laugh-out-loud guffaws it makes up for in beautifully sincere and truthfully portrayed moments. The film features over the top hilarity from the likes of Fred Willard, but provides a beautifully subtle and straight performance by Catherine O'Hara. Rather than concerning herself with jokes, O'Hara concerns herself with being true to the character, and hands in a truly amazing acting performance. Ditto to her co-star, Mr. Eugene Levy, whose ridiculously brain-fried Mitch is somehow lovably lost. The music in the film is truly, "the icing on the cake." Every song played by Mitch & Mickey, The Folksmen, and The New Main Street Singers have actually been written by the movie's stars. Guest, McKean, and Shearer wrote all of the Folksmen's tune, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara wrote all of Mitch & Mickey's songs, and John Michale Higgins arranged all of the vocal harmonies for The New Main Street Singers. These actors have given of themselves in writing the music they play in the film, and the movie is somehow elevated to a new height because of it. If you go to "A Mighty Wind" expecting to see merely a comedy, you may be dissapointed. If you go hoping to see an excellent film with outsanding acting, "A Mighty Wind" will show you all of this and more.

Rating:
Summary: Good comedy
Review: I'll keep this review short and simple: this film offers a lot of laughs and fans of "Best in Show" should be pleased!

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars: Passing Gas
Review: Christopher Guest's "A Mighty Wind" is a mild, humorous comedy based along the same mock-documentary lines of his hilarious "Dog Show" and "Waiting for Guffman." But whereas his previous movies have been written with a razor sharp wit and biting humor, "Wind" is not. Instead, Guest has fashioned a fond look at the 60's Folk Music scene with albeit some very funny bits: such as the whacked out performance of Eugene Levy as Mitch of "Mitch and Mickey (Catherine O'Hara)" fame: a singing duo renowned for kissing in the middle of their most famous song.
There is no doubt that Guest is a talented comedy writer and director of the quasi-documentary, but he definitely needs to exercise his skills in a straightforward comedy, drama or even action film as it is doubtful that he can top himself in his, thus far chosen genre, especially after the sublime "Waiting for Guffman."

Rating:
Summary: "Mighty" indeed
Review: As a chronicler of our times, Christopher Guest is without peer. His previous takes have been right on target, exposing the stupidity, vanity, and greed of our culture in all its absurdity without the vaporous pretention and pointless anger and posturing of someone like - shall I even mention the name? - Michael Moore. But with the paleo-folk artists that populate this venture he has struck gold. Guest's sheep-like tenor braying (Glenn Yarborough comes to mind) is a laff riot! Anyone old enough to remember the Lamplighters and the New Christy Minstrels will, if not laugh out loud, experience an inward satisfaction at this skewering. In the words of the old standard, these performers are "more to be pitied than censured". And, of course, Parker Posey turns in another spot-on performance. My only disappointment is that I really missed the Buffy St. Marie character. That would have been perfection!

Rating:
Summary: Mighty Mighty
Review: If you liked "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show," or "This is Spinal Tap," you simply can't not see "A Mighty Wind."

I drove 100 miles to see it on opening day yesterday, and I'm glad I did. (It's currently only playing in limited release, but is definitley worth seeking out).

I thought it was great. I laughed hard and often, especially in the first half of the flim. The second half emphasizes the emotional rollercoster that is Mitch and Mickey (a folk duo played stunningly by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara). It's amazing that in this improv-style, they can make you laugh. but can also make you cry.

I'd say joke-for-joke "A Mighty Wind" is not quite as funny as "Best in Show," but it's still the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Fred Willard has always made me laugh, and he really steals the show again here as he did in "Best in Show." In "A Mighty Wind," he's a has-been tv "star"-turned cruise-ship entertainment promoter who keeps milking his long-since-forgotten tagline, "Wha' happened?" I couldn't stop cracking up whenever he was on the screen.

Jennifer Coolidge, the primped owner of Rhapsody in White from "Best in Show" is also hilarious here as half of a PR team promoting the tribute show. "Mmm...model trains. Good thing they had those, or they wouldn't have been able to build the big ones."

Catherine O'Hara just about deserves an Oscar nomination for her improvised performance here as Mickey, the lovelorn half of the folk duo Mitch and Mickey. Eugene Levy is great, too, as Mitch. Their history together dating back to the wonderful SCTV really helps add to their effective chemistry here.

There's also a lot of great original music in this movie, just about all of it played live in the film by the actors.

My only complaint about "A Mighty Wind" is that it's way too short. It's got a running time of about 90 minutes, and there was a lot of funny material from the trailer that's AWOL in the movie. You get a feeling that they really wanted to pare down any extraneous laughs in order to bring the Mitch and Mickey story to center stage. As a result, the other two bands get a little short shrift, and you feel like things are being summarized. It'll be good to see all the unused footage on the DVD.

This is a slightly different type of film from Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy. It'll still make you laugh until you cry, but it'll also make you cry...until you laugh again, I guess. Anyway, "change is good," as Harry Shearer says in the film's quirky epilogue. "Change is life."