A Mighty Wind (2003)

The third and last installment of Christopher Guest's "mockumentaries," this one centers around three folk-singing groups from the 1960s re-uniting for a concert many years later.

As someone who well remembers most of the folk singers from the '50s and '60s, and was familiar with Guest's other movies, I was anxious to see this. It was okay, but to be honest, I expected more, at least more laughs and a little better pacing. This was just a bit too slow and not as funny as his other films, especially "Best In Show."

There is some great music in here, to be sure, and not lip-synced, either, but most of that isn't heard until the last 30 minutes. Most of the same actors are in this film as in the previous two "mockumentaries," and I always appreciate the comedic talents of Catherine O'Hara and the rest of the crew.

The humor is unique, dry....very dry, and I appreciated it a bit more on the second viewing. The only annoying person, to me, was Eugene Levy's character "Mickey," a spaced-out loser whose act wears thin the more you see of him.

It's not a bad film; just not up to Guest's '"Best Of Show."

Fmovies: Christopher Guest is a generous actor/director in that he doesn't hog the camera for himself. He lets his actors do their thing without much interfering; he fades into the background, practically.

This pseudo-documentary about the folk music craze of the late 50s and early 60s in this country is accurate. It is a hilarious take on those performers that were part of the era. Mr. Guest has a great insight in presenting the different characters and brings them together with an accurate eye for detail.

Eugene Levy and Catherine OHara are teamed up again as Mitch and Mickey, a famous duo from those days who were the biggest act in folk music of the time. Eugene Levy appears to be catatonic as Mitch, who agrees to take part in the Town Hall ceremony honoring his mentor. Catherine O'Hara is excellent in her part as Mickey, the loyal partner.

The documentary form seems to work well, as it serves the point for the reunion of all these performers coming together one more time, even though the world has forgotten them.

There are disappointments in that no one has a central role, but the misuse of Parker Posey in the film is regrettable. I guess there was no space to showcase any actor over another.

Mr. Guest keeps getting better with every new film and it seems a very great idea to concentrate on this very talented cast for future occasions where they can all interact, as it has been the case, in the previous occasions.

An excellent entertainment, though very different from this ensemble's other pseudo-documentary efforts (Spinal Tap, Best in Show).

Incredibly creative. I'm a fan of folk music and this film really nails the eclectic backgrounds of folk musicians, right down to the distinctive vocalizations, multi-line harmonies and excessive enthusiasm. I was so impressed that all the parodied songs were written and performed (well) by the actors and I now covet the sound track. Get ready for a lot of subtle humor and story lines and enjoy the send-up.

A Mighty Wind fmovies. It's amazing how well executed this movie is. It seems realisic and yet so..."movie!" Christopher Guest (who did a fine "guest" on Saturday Night Live in a game show skit..."Chocolate Babies?") did some great work on this and all of the characters are classic. Eugene Levy may be the best in this. His performance of Mitch, or rather the shell of what Mitch once was is hilarious. The best scene is, in my opinion, the scene in which Mickey's wife shows Mitch his model trains and model town. Levy's comments about seeing the town in the autumn ("I would have made tiny leaves...") are the funniest lines in the film. The Folksmen show off funny interaction scenes (yep, those are the guys from Spinal Tap) and The New Mainstreet Singers are definitely the commercial b*st*rds of this film. W.I.N.C.-a religion based on color. That's classic. I would recommend getting the DVD for the great deleted scenes, including a press conference in which Mitch talks about Canadian hip-hop, where kids rap about cleanliness.

I love this film. Despite it's rating, a great family movie. The sexual references are minor. There's just two scenes. One: A brief talk about a sex emporium and Two: References to starring in dirty movies. Get past these and mom, dad and the kids can have a good time. Just punch a hole in the record first.

Christopher Guest's movies, like his performances, are generally subtle and always low-key. They are not for people who need laugh tracks to follow the humor and most of his work is so contextually-based that some knowledge of the subject he's dissecting is a definite asset. Guest, who was a performer in the very early SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, is, in many respects, the Anti-Belushi of modern American comedy.

Nevertheless, he shares with Belushi - and many of their contemporaries, who came from one or another branch of the Second City organization - a certain fondness for off-the-wall elements in his work; Guest's tend to be slipped in, quietly, while Belushi's popped out of exploding cakes.

A MIGHTY WIND is a spot-on satire of the American Folk Music movement of the early and mid-1960s. The narrative conceit is a memorial concert for a recently deceased impressario, organized by his son, which reunites three folk groups from the 60s.

The real elements of the film are the send-ups of a variety of tropes of the era, musical styles, personalities, and quite an array of music-business cliches. Remarkably, however, the songs are genuinely entertaining in themselves; both the writing and the performances. They're satirical, but so subtlely performed that it's easy to loose the thread of the lyrics and wind up mindlessly nodding heads and grooving along, which pretty neatly captures the popular music experience for the last several generations. Satire within satire.

The musical performances are excellent, recreating, almost frighteningly, the taste and texture of folk music of the era. And, bringing several real 60s folk acts to mind.

The acting is typical of Guest movies, such as SPINAL TAP and BEST IN SHOW; very quiet, restrained, low-key, with, apparently, a lot of dialogue improvised. The performers are mostly drawn from the same group Guest has used in the past: Eugene Levy (who co-wrote the script with Guest) and Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Ed Begley, Jr., and Guest, himself.

Comparisons with Guest's most popular picture, THIS IS SPINAL TAP are both interesting and tricky. Interesting because both movies were written and directed by the same man, and shared most of the same casts. Tricky, because while some seem to compare AMW unfavorably with TIST, a looking at these films, together, they have a lot in common. So much so, in fact, that it's reasonable to consider them a pair; very similar takes on two, distinct musical genres of a similar era. The writing, acting, tone, pacing of these two movies is very similar. The jokes are similar. The points of view are similar. The focus on both performers, and the behind-the-scenes people is similar. The real difference is the music.

This, in turn, tends to suggest that those who react very differently to these two films may be reacting more to the music, directly, and to the ambiance of the world around the particular musical genre more than anything else.

Guest's movies don't have many laugh-out-loud moments. Most of the humor is more the "big-smile", sometimes, the chuckle, kind. But, Ed Begley, Jr. has perhaps his best comic scene, ever, when he does a take as a Swedish-American public television producer dropping Yiddish into his conversation; one word per sentence. It's a totally dead-pan and very quiet performance which, like so much of Christopher Guest's humor, you will either get or not get. If you do, you may fall off your chair.
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The first time I saw this movie, I laughed and thought it was pretty good. Then I saw it again. And again. And again. I bought it and watched it even more times.

I don't think the movie is "pretty good" anymore. It's made a permanent home in my Christopher Guest collection as one of the movies I go around quoting. I own the DVD, the soundtrack and even the songbook.

All of the cast members are hilarious as usual. I love The Folksmen trio of Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest. A little reminiscent of Spinal Tap goes folk. The New Main Street Singers have such a dark side it's funny to see their on-stage presence as such chipper people. And Mitch and Mickey are the wacky split up sweethearts of yesteryear.

I love this movie and look forward to the next release of this great comedic team!