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Directed by: Christopher Guest Starring: Jim Moret, Stuart Luce, Mary Gross, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest... A Mighty Wind is decent mockumentary from the same group of people responsible for Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, and Best In Show, but it fails to be as entertaining or universally appealing as its predecessors. You can enjoy Spinal Tap without necessarily liking metal, Waiting for Guffman doesn't require theatre knowledge, and Best In Show works even if you've never been to a dog show. However, A Mighty Wind is packed with too much music and subtle folk-jokes that a lot of the humor fails unless you experienced the 60's folk world. It's not a bad movie by any means, but I just felt like I was constantly missing the joke. The characters seemed funny enough, and did manage to make me laugh a few times (especially Fred Willard), but it's hard to laugh when you don't quite know what is being parodied. Ask me to imagine the people at a dog show and the cast of characters in Best In Show instantly come to mind, but Levy's brain-fried monotone character Mitch is the last thing I'd identify with a "60's folk singer". The dialouge was always lively enough to keep me mostly entertained, and the movie ventured into "boring" territory only a few times. RATING: 3.0 PROS: Hilarious characters and format CONS: Too much music, too subtle, too reliant on a knowledge of the folk world ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310281/ Bloated Pussy fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Sep 17, 2004 |
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Sep 17, 2004 17:59
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:46 |
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I'm going for a 4.5. I really, really love this movie, but you have to be in the good mood for it. It's much more subtle humor, probably mostly apprecijated by people who actually know or went through the folk period this is about. The first time I watched I ju8st didn't like it at all, after the second time I imediately bought the DVD because I was in love. I also really like to pop up the soundtrack every now and then, this is really, really good music put together. It's not quite Spinal Tap, but I think it's more mature, more subtle, and because of that even more funny in some way. Well, I guess you'll have to like folk a little for this one, just as people who didn't like or at least get rock wouldn't get Spinal Tap.
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Sep 17, 2004 19:43
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It bothered me that when Ebert (Ha!) reviewed this film, he decided it wasn't as funny because it wasn't as mean-spirited as Christopher Guest's other movies. This is a fantastic movie. You don't need to know anything about folk music, despite what every review I've ever read has said. The humour's more understated, but I wouldn't say it's completely lost it's edge - consider "the catheter song". The usual cast of these movies gathers once again - Spinal Tap rises from the ashes as a folk trio, Eugene Levy shows up as a mind-drained folksinger - think Neil Young and Bob Dylan together with Art Garfunkel. What they've done - better and better with each film - is rather than write a script, they shape out a plot, and characters, which the actors assume. All the scenes are subsequently ad-libbed - in effect it's just the characters talking towards a mutual goal in each scene... or just rambling without any real direction (just like real people in real documentaries!) Delicate humour, especially as you get to know the characters better. The more you watch it the more jokes you get - like Catherine O'Hara's Character's Northern Ontario French accent creeping in, in times of stress. rating: 5!
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Sep 19, 2004 23:17
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I, too, did not like this movie as much as any of Guest's other mockumentaries. It felt like there were too many totally zany characters just crammed in there for the purpose of wackiness, and for this reason a lot of jokes just become silly one-liners. Also, I felt like the actual acts, unlike in Waiting for Guffman and Spinal Tap, weren't very funny at all -- maybe because I'm much too young to have been around for folk music. And yes, I think it might have been a little too kind, as the poster above seems to be upset at Ebert for thinking. All in all, though, it made me laugh a few times, and perhaps you might enjoy it more if you're at all interested in or knowledgable about folk music. I gave it a 3.5.
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Sep 27, 2004 20:00
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Not as good as any of the other films by same crew, but chock full of funny nonetheless. I thought the parting gag (I won't give it away, it's the bit involving Harry Shearer's character) was a cheap play for easy laughs... but hey, easy laughs are still laughs. Rating: 4
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Feb 4, 2005 20:22
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I worked at a cheap second-run movie theater when A Mighty Wind came out, and I'd sneak in to hear "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow." People would come in and ask what was good, and I'd tell them that A Mighty Wind was a lot of fun. Then I'd tell them that it was a parody of folk music and they'd say, "Oh, I don't like folk music. I guess I'll see that other comedy with Eddie Murphy- Disney's Haunted Mansion or whatever it's called." And then I would sell them their tickets and smile, all the while hoping that they'd hate it so much that it would ruin their week. So anyway, A Mighty Wind is a really good film.
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May 31, 2006 08:18
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:46 |
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For some reason, this movie really clicked with me. I saw it last October at a friend's place and immediately bought the movie and soundtrack when I returned home. I had never seen any of Christopher Guest's movies before, so I also picked up Best In Show, Guffman, and Spinal Tap, and of the four, A Mighty Wind still is my favorite. The scene that cracks me up every time is Fred Willard's first scene as Mike LaFontaine. "Hey, wha' happened?!" I think the last scene is the only drawback, but it's a minor one at that, and doesn't really ruin the movie at all. That said, this gets a 5.5 out of 5.
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Jun 27, 2006 03:52
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