A Mighty Wind (*)
review by Jon Waterman

A folk music reunion show is being planned that would bring all of the top acts from back in the day together to honor the memory of the genre’s greatest promoter.

The fiction film acts as a documentary (known as a “mockumentary”) and follows the lives of several different characters as the show’s deadline approaches. It follows around the son of the famous promoter as he attempts to organize the event, and it follows the three groups as they attempt to prepare for being on stage for the first time in thirty years. The result is an ensemble film that gets to be a little too overwhelming and a little too un-entertaining.

My first thought was that the cast of characters was too large (notice I don’t mention any character names). We are supposed to keep track of twenty-plus lives in a short time frame. However, the over-abundance is not the issue. The back-stories just are not interesting or necessarily fleshed out enough. We are not really given a reason to connect with anyone. Eugene Levy’s (co-writer) character seems to have the most meat, but in the end I really didn’t care what happened to any of them. The character development that was given was not utilized for comedic effect. We learn that one folk singer used to be an adult film actress. After learning that fact, we never hear it mentioned again. It seems like a waste of time if it won’t be referenced later.

As for the genre itself, I can’t really say that the mockumentary has been played out. However, I would like to see a new crew attempt it. ”The Real Cancun” doesn’t count, either. The only mockumentaries put out are by director/co-writer Christopher Guest and the same group of actors in every film. Only about half of the time does it actually pan out. If there were other directors and writers working in the same arena, maybe Guest and friends would be more inclined to try harder in future endeavors. Mockumentaries are not played out. Christopher Guest mockumentaries: maybe.

Is it possible that I don’t enjoy the film because I was not around during the peak folk music era? I doubt it. I hardly knew anything about dog shows, but I found “Best In Show” hilarious. If you need to know about that stuff to enjoy the film then the film isn’t doing it’s job. A true good documentary would explain the scene so the audience understood it. I felt this film did explain what it needed to say, however, the jokes fell flat most of the time. The only character that could consistently get a laugh was Fred Willard’s. He made me double over. Other than that, I wouldn’t waste the time on this one.

respond to jon@filmbrats.com