Hey folks, Harry here... This film gets its World Premiere in Austin, Tx during SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST coming up in the next week or two. I'm sure it'll pack the audiences in! Personally, anything with Christopher Guest involved, well, we should all be at! Here ya go!
Hey Harry,
Wanted to give you a quick review of A Mighty Wind, which I was able to catch recently at an industry screening. This is the third "mockumentary" involving the same cast, which was preceded by "Waiting for Guffman" and the amazing "Best in Show."
This one, yet again, is directed by Christopher Guest and written by Guest and Eugene Levy. The premise is definitely the most interesting of the three, as it explores the world of folk groups, old and new. The film style is basically very similar to the previous two films, with introduction to characters, the organization and execution of some large event, and then an epilogue of the ol "where are they now."
Like its predecessors, "A Mighty Wind" creates an absolutely frivolous scenario and places characters in it that take it way too seriously. This has been the formula and it works here too. The main plot point is that a legendary folk music mogul has passed on and his son wants to organize a concert in his honor. In order to do this in a very limited time frame, he invites old groups that used to perform with the folk label and sets up the venue at the ìlegendaryî New York Town Hall.
This allows Guest to set up all the groups that have accepted, consisting of The Folksmen, a three-person group with familiar members to any fan of his films, The NEW Main Street Sings, a re-creation of a old group of 9, and Mitch and Mickey (I think), a now-broken-up famous folk couple. Part of the fun of the film is seeing which actors from the other films are playing which parts, so I wonÃt go into that in this review.
First things first. The film is very funny; all the different scenes of preparation, rehearsing, and performing are what you would expect. ItÃs hard to get into much detail here because it will sounds like I am rehashing comments on the other films.
One of the really delightful differences in this one are the songs. They are just absolutely hilarious, yet at the same time, well written and catchy. I watched with horror as I was enjoying some of the corniest folk tunes ever imaginable, and well, it shows the genius of the writers.
My largest complaint would be that I truly didnÃt get to know the characters as well as I did in Best in Show. There are not many scenes of interaction between all the different actors and they are usually preparing and performing in, basically, a vacuum. This, sadly, creates a lot of one-note characters and in my opinion, some really missed opportunities. I felt that I didnÃt really get to know the Folksmen and New or Old Main Street Singers and this is probably due to the filmÃs concentration on the concert in general and the relationship between Mitch and Mickey.
A quick run-down of the actors -
Funnier than in previous appearances:
This one goes to Ed Begley, Jr. The deadpan act works a little better when he puts a little more passion into it.
Funny before and Funny Again:
The actor who played the flamboyantly gay dog owner in ìBest in Showî plays a completely different character and is hilarious to watch.
The actress who played the gold-digger in ìBest in Showî again shines in this one, even though she is definitely under-used. She is so funny in her few scenes, though, that it makes up for it.
The actor who played Parker PoseyÃs husband in ìBest in Showî plays another nice neurotic character. Again, small screen time, big impact.
I love Catherine OÃHara, in all the films.
But my God, Fred Willard yet again, steals every scene he is in. ItÃs a similar note that we have all seen before but he does it so well that you just canÃt wait to see him appear again.
Funny before but not used enough here:
Parker Posey is barely in it. L
The lesbian dog trainer from ìBest in Showî is very, very funny in this film, but there was so much more you could do with the character; from her introduction, I was expecting a lot more out of her.
And finally, as I mentioned before and, man, I really hate to say it, but the Folksmen, while fantastic, take a back-seat in this film story-wise. Admittedly, they get a lot of screen time for their song-singing, but I am sure there was a lot more that they could have explored in their relationship, past and present. They certainly concentrated on this aspect more with Mitch/Mickey.
Fans of the other films will definitely enjoy this one quite a bit, but I am not sure if it will be as memorable.
Hope this gives you some inkling on the film,
Little Swarthy Man
