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Movie: A Mighty Wind
Starring Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hare, Bob Balaban
Directed by Christopher Guest
Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy (Warner Brothers Films)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
Christopher Guest has always had a musical aspect to his work. Years ago I first got wind of him when he performed a great little folksong called "Colorado" on the Lemmings album by the National Lampoon. Later of course he was the lead guitarist of Spinal Tap, a wonderfully funny rock mockumentary that also launched Rob Reiner's career as a director. Now we are getting wind of a new mockumentary by Guest, A Mighty Wind.
The premise is that Irving Steinbloom, a respected folk music promoter in the 1960s, has passed away after decades in the business. His son John (Balaban) feels his dad deserves a memorial concert by the three big-time folkie groups he used to manage. The story unfolds as he scrambles to find all the performers and get them ready for the big show.
If you have ever done any solo acoustic performing, you're sure to relate to the humor in A Mighty Wind. If you're old enough to remember the folk music boom of the 60s you'll get a big kick out of it too. The entire cast melts into their roles, performing flawless folkie tunes that you'd swear were written 40 years ago in the heyday of The Kingston Trio and The New Christy Minstrels. Their delivery is straight-as-an-arrow, keeping a deadpan demeanor as they say the silliest things.
A standout performance is Eugene Levy as Mitch. The poor man burnt out decades ago when his partner Mickey (O'Hara) broke up with him and he shambles through the movie in perennial shell shock, but giving out oddly moving bits of clarity and then causing no small amount of commotion when he disappears right before the duo was to reunite onstage. Meanwhile, the members of Spinal Tap (Guest, McKean and Shearer) are reconstituted as the Folkmen and there's plenty of hilarity as they practice their old standards for the show. One wonders how much of it was ad-libbed - they seem so natural together. Other smaller parts are filled in with veteran comic actors like Ed Begley Jr. as the Public Broadcasting producer and Fred Willard as the agent for the New Main Street Singers. Another terrific performance was by Jane Lynch as Laura Bohner, a former porn queen now a squeaky clean folkie with a twist of New Age idiocy.
Like the humor in Spinal Tap, the jokes are pitched a little inside, but every one was a home run ball to me. A Mighty Wind is by far Guest's best film to date.
The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the film? Absolutely
Would I go to see it again? Yes, and it'll probably make it into the personal collection when it comes out on DVD.
© 2003 - Rusty Pipes