← Back to Reviews
in
A Mighty Wind
The Christopher Guest rep company, never known for providing conventional comedy, take the viewer on an offbeat journey in 2003's A Mighty Wind that actually turns out to be funnier than its premise implies.
The death of a folk music concert promoter from the 60's prompts his son (Bob Balaban) to organize a tribute to his father in the form of a concert, featuring three great folk acts of the 60's who happen to still be around.
The Folksman is a trio of singers who are thrilled to be part of this tribute, despite some infighting among the guys; The Main Street Singers is actually a rather large group which are actually two separate groups that decided to merge; Mitch and Mickey were a male/female duo who had a monster hit record that made a giant impact because near the end of the song, Mitch and Mickey kiss each other. Mitch is lauded as this folk music god who influenced everyone back in the day, but when he shows up in New York to rehearse the concert, he has apparently had some sort of mental breakdown and is only a shell of the man he was.
In their accustomed "mockumentary" style, director Christopher Guest and his co-screenwriter Eugene Levy have crafted an amusing and human look at a very select group of show business professionals who seem to be in complete denial about their genre's limited appeal. Only one character in the movie actual admits to hating folk music and he happens to be the other son of the dead concert promoter. I have to admit that as the premise of this film unfolded, I expected to be bored to death, but Guest and company, who have made us laugh at dog shows, community theater, and Hollywood, mine humor out of folk music as well.
The one of a kind musical score includes songs like "Old Joe's Place", "Loco Man", "Never Did No Wondrin', "Main Street Rag" and "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow", Mitch and Mickeys famous duet, actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
Guest has always had a knack for casting his rep company in tailor-made roles and it was genius to cast Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and himself as the Folksman...the gimmick of having the three actors who were the leads in This is Spinal Tap reunite onscreen here 20 years later was just inspired and conjured up all kinds of memories for me. The offstage bickering between the trio definitely stirred up images of an older and wiser David, Nigel, and Derek. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara shine as Mitch and Mickey and there are other great comic contributions along the way from Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, John Michael Higgins, Jennifer Coolidge, and Ed Begley Jr. This movie is a lot more fun than it sounds. Fans of the Smothers Brothers will have a head start here.
The Christopher Guest rep company, never known for providing conventional comedy, take the viewer on an offbeat journey in 2003's A Mighty Wind that actually turns out to be funnier than its premise implies.
The death of a folk music concert promoter from the 60's prompts his son (Bob Balaban) to organize a tribute to his father in the form of a concert, featuring three great folk acts of the 60's who happen to still be around.
The Folksman is a trio of singers who are thrilled to be part of this tribute, despite some infighting among the guys; The Main Street Singers is actually a rather large group which are actually two separate groups that decided to merge; Mitch and Mickey were a male/female duo who had a monster hit record that made a giant impact because near the end of the song, Mitch and Mickey kiss each other. Mitch is lauded as this folk music god who influenced everyone back in the day, but when he shows up in New York to rehearse the concert, he has apparently had some sort of mental breakdown and is only a shell of the man he was.
In their accustomed "mockumentary" style, director Christopher Guest and his co-screenwriter Eugene Levy have crafted an amusing and human look at a very select group of show business professionals who seem to be in complete denial about their genre's limited appeal. Only one character in the movie actual admits to hating folk music and he happens to be the other son of the dead concert promoter. I have to admit that as the premise of this film unfolded, I expected to be bored to death, but Guest and company, who have made us laugh at dog shows, community theater, and Hollywood, mine humor out of folk music as well.
The one of a kind musical score includes songs like "Old Joe's Place", "Loco Man", "Never Did No Wondrin', "Main Street Rag" and "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow", Mitch and Mickeys famous duet, actually received an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
Guest has always had a knack for casting his rep company in tailor-made roles and it was genius to cast Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and himself as the Folksman...the gimmick of having the three actors who were the leads in This is Spinal Tap reunite onscreen here 20 years later was just inspired and conjured up all kinds of memories for me. The offstage bickering between the trio definitely stirred up images of an older and wiser David, Nigel, and Derek. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara shine as Mitch and Mickey and there are other great comic contributions along the way from Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, John Michael Higgins, Jennifer Coolidge, and Ed Begley Jr. This movie is a lot more fun than it sounds. Fans of the Smothers Brothers will have a head start here.