Rating: 
Summary: Mighty entertaining
Review: Let's hear it for Christopher Guest! This man just goes from strength to strength. A Mighty Wind is the flip side of This is Spinal Tap--a gentle mockumentary about the folk era. With a cast that goes for days and great performances too numerous to document individually, the applause has to go to Eugene Levy (with a Thorazine-like brain effect) who is genuinely touching with his fractured mental synapses as Mitch, and to Catherine O'Hara who is utterly believable and affecting as the Mickey half of Mitch & Mickey. Bob Balaban as the organizer of the folk event is humorless sincerity personified. Ed Begley plays a Swedish-born PBS-type producer who breaks hilariously into Yiddishisms; Jennifer Coolidge is howlingly funny as the brain-sharing publicist; Fred Willard is grotesquely funny as the sleazeball music producer whose every idea is gross and/or stupid. Part of what makes this movie work so well is the terrific musical production values. The original songs are so close to the big folk hits of the 60s that they're actually quite catchy in their kitschy fashion. In true documentary fashion, there are lots of talking heads as the show is put together over a period of two weeks. What is emblematic of all Guest films is the gentle way in which he pokes fun. For those of us who lived through the era when "Blowin' In the Wind" and guitar-accompanied anti-war anthems were very much a part of the social fabric, this movie smiles at the naivety of the time without pulling too hard at the loose strings so that the fabric unravels. It's a good-natured spoof with some hilarious moments. It's fun and funny and even quite sweet.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Wha' happened? (Spoilers.)
Review: After loving "This is Spinal Tap," loving "Waiting for Guffman" and really liking "Best in Show," I was psyched that a new Christopher Guest comedy, featuring the same documentary format and much of the same cast, was hitting theaters. Since it dealt with folk music, I was a little skeptical about it, but I thought that the grouping of Guest-Shearer-McKean again would give the movie some funny moments and really, really funny music.But the music's not that funny. It's played straight, just like typical cornball folk music. And opportunities for hilarity are missed. At the climactic show, I was just waiting and waiting for something to go awry a la "Stonehenge" or "Red White and Blaine," and it really didn't, which disappointed me. The best players in the film turn out to be Jane Lynch and John Michael Higgins, whose characters, the Bohners, perform with The New Main Street Singers, practice a bizarre religion and come from vastly different backgrounds. Catherine O'Hara's performance as half of a famous folk duo is occasionally funny, but she comes off as a serious wistful romantic in many of her scenes, which doesn't quite fit with the tone of the rest of the film. Eugene Levy, playing the most wacked-out character (which he decided to give a weird, disconnected voice for some reason), is never given an opportunity to show his character's elaborately described anger, something that I was certain was going to happen. Fred Willard's great in this movie. Parker Posey is given one interview scene, which is funny, but she's barely in it. And Michael Hitchcock has a really nice moment. It's occasionally very funny, but too many of the scenes fall flat. Compared to its predecessors, "A Mighty Wind" disappointed me.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm psyched!!
Review: Being a fan of Christopher Guest's films, I'm looking forward to seeing this movie. It has the same great casts from the other movies (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show) and features some excellent songs. The movie is a "documentary" about three retired '60s folk groups who reunite to perform a benefit show. Judging from the trailer (which can be seen on the movie's fantastic website) it looks like it'll be another winner. I only hope that it'll do well enough to eventually play where I live.
Rating:
Summary: Funny + folk-music + Eugene Levy
Review: Why only 4 stars and not 5? I cannot believe that in 2004 there are still companies that package DVDs in flimsy cardboard cases rather than plastic clamshell keepsakes. And this is a film you'll want to keep. If you only know Eugene Levy from the American Pie films, you will be pleasantly surprised with A Mighty Wind. I had no idea Eugene Levy could sing so well, or was capable of a serio-comic performance. I usually love his bit roles in films, and this one was way better than I expected. Aside from Levy, this is another of director Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, albeit an extremely good-natured and lighthearted one centered around a PBS folk-music concert. Guest is one of the few filmmakers who can make the mockumentary format work (aside from Woody Allen), and he leads a brilliant cast into a largely improvised framework that contains laughter and sentimentality. I'm not a folk-music fan at all, but I enjoyed the music in the film a lot. It's pleasant rather than annoying and preachy.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Mockumentry
Review: One of the ways critics can tell how popular a movie is going to be is the number people who ask "When is it opening?" and "Have you seen it?" Based on that totally unscientific method, I rank A Mighty Wind second only to The Matrix Reloaded as the can't-wait-to-see-it movie of the year so far. For all those eager fans yearning to know how Christopher Guest and company followed up Waiting For Guffman from 1996 and Best in Show from 2000, I have good news: People, I loved this movie. The premise is that the manager of several acts that were popular during the heyday of folk music has died, and his former clients assembled for a live, televised tribute at New York's Town Hall. The organizer is the dead man's son, Jonathan Steinbloom (Bob Balaban), a man so nervous that floral arrangements cause him anxiety. The musical groups are the New Main Street Singers, a peppy "neuf-tet" whose nine members include a color-worshipping couple (Jane Lynch and John Michael Higgins); Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara), once the sweethearts of the folk world; and The Folksmen, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, who are as funny playing aging folkies as they were as rockers in This is Spinal Tap, the eternally-hilarious 1984 heavy-metal spoof directed by Rob Reiner. As they prepare for the occasion, the musicians reveal a cascade of jealousies, neuroses, insecurities, delusions and weird personal history that add up to a remarkably empathetic reflection of lives a lot like anyone else's - that is, full of tangents and reversals and unexpected results. It's just these lives are much funnier than most. The Guest method of moviemaking is unique; working from the wri- ters' story outline, the actors improvise dialogue throughout rehearsals to develop a complete narrative. It takes very, very smart actors to make the process work, and Mighty Wind is replete with some of the best, many of them seasoned writers and directors as well as performers. In the years since Spinal Tap, the fake documentary has become a staple of low-budget movie-making. Yet, none of the many copies that followed came close to equaling the sheer lacerating wit of the the original. Until, that is, Guest (and co-writer Levy) took over directing chores for the equally demented Guffman, about a small-town theatrical production, and the dog-show romp Best in Show. The ensemble put together for those two films returns in Mighty Wind, including Balaban, Parker Posey, Don Lake and the magically expressive O'Hara. Every one of them gets moments of great comic wit, but the funniest of the returning crew is Fred Willard. As a former sitcom actor now managing the New Main Street Singers, he elevates his signature creation - the clueless mook who is deeply, permanently delighted with himself - to pure art. It's just too bad we don't give knighthoods for comedy in this country. Close on his heels in the sheer-hysteria ranks is Jennifer Coolidge as publicity agent Amber Cole; with only a few minutes on screen she had the audience literally howling. And if that's not what makes a comedy great, I don't know what does
Rating:
Summary: A Comedic Masterpiece.
Review: I just saw this for a second time and have to say that I think it's even stronger than "Best in Show." That says quite a bit in itself as the sardonic humor in "Best in Show" is tough to surpass. The premise for this movie is excellent as there is so much about the folk music scene that one can find humor in. Guest and Levy's script is subtle in its brilliance and I found more to enjoy during the second viewing than the first. The cameo appearances are also magnificent. Ed Begley Jr. as Lars Olfen, the yiddish speaking Swede, is wonderful as is Fred Willard who just about steals the movie as a degenerate, cheeseball producer. Some of Willard's lines are so goofy it's just about impossible not to laugh. This is an upbeat, enjoyable film that provides one with a nice escape from real life.
Rating:
Summary: Laughed and laughed and laughed...
Review: If you're my age (60) or thereabouts and ever heard even a single folksong while growing up, you will love this. It is witty and subtle and just great. Like Guest's other flicks too, but this one is the best.
Rating:
Summary: Affectionate satire for folk-lovers
Review: This is the mockumentary for people who don't love mockumentaries. It's far less condescending than Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman, and to my mind that helps it become both funnier and more meaningful. I work in theatre, and though I enjoyed Waiting for Guffman, the joke got old for me. But A Mighty Wind is so much more generous to the folkies and fans that you can't help but like it.
This is an intelligent film from someone who knows folk music and comedy!
You'll get a lot more out of this if you are familiar with the folk movement that arose in the late fifties-early sixties. Every musical act that performs in the reunion is a composite of actual groups-- you can see shadows of the Highwaymen, the Kingston Trio, the Weavers, the Seekers (later named the New Seekers), the Mamas and the Papas, Ian and Sylvia, even Peter Paul and Mary-- without slavish and obvious caricature.
The ersatz folk music is actually not bad, with delightfully earnest lyrics. The poignant "kiss at the end of a rainbow" is a legitimately pretty little tune.
Because the cast are "real" in the present sometimes they don't look quite young enough in the thirty-year flashbacks, but that's a minor quibble.
I love this folk music, though most of what is parodied was recorded before I was born or when I was little... and so I found many of the little jokes hilarious.
Particularly loved how the squeaky clean females of the 'New Main Street Singers" tell how they were porn stars or on the street-- the delivery is so matter-of-fact they might have been talking about how they majored in sociology. Hee.
The "aftermath" of the concert is a treat, as well. Funny, a little surprising, but never mean-spirited. And it might even encourage you to dig up those old vinyls. Naive and tarnished though it may have been, the music came from a sweetly idealistic movement, and even in parody,
Rating:
Summary: The Spinal Tap Gang Strike Again!
Review: A good poking of fun at the 60's folk revival sees Christopher Guest and company making a great laugher of a film in "Mighty Wind." Could this be another "Break Like the Wind," the title of Spinal Tap's comeback album?
Certainly a fair number of juvenile jokes with names like Bohner and Clapp, but the documentary style fit perfectly with the getting back together of semi-legendery groups the Folksmen, the New Main Street Singers (a rip on the New Christy Minstrels) and Mitch & Mickey (whomever they were supposed to be, I guess Sonny & Cher).
A lot of stellar performances from the core group that have also made "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" such howlers. Bob Balaban as the anal retentive son of the late folk promoter was fantastic, Parker Posey's goofball mandolinist, and Eugene Levy especially as the much-disturbed Mitch were among the best. But really they were all great.
Somehow it all came together well; the DVD has some excellent additions, including the Public TV performance of the live show, which is an interesting view, and the outtakes.
Rating:
Summary: A great little movie
Review: While "Spinal Tap"@might have the killer lines, "A mighty Wind" has a large cast of better rounded characters that Guest and Levy are generous enough to share the screen with. While Tap is the funnier film it still plays like a collection of pasted together sketches while "wind" has better narrative pacing and a much better pay off. Definitely a DVD worth owning for the bonus footage along with the need for repeated viewings and as a tool to convert those who missed it on the big screen.
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