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MIGHTY WIND
6/10
USA
2003 : Christopher GUEST : 95 mins
Anyone who’s
seen writer-director Guest’s last film Best
in Show will encounter few surprises in A Mighty Wind –
it’s the exact same faux-documentary formula, taking semi-affectionate
aim at another very soft target: 60s American folk music. Various fictional
luminaries of the pre-Beatles scene gather in New York for a show in honour
of recently-deceased impresario Irving Steinbloom, staged by Steinbloom’s
fuss-budget son Jonathan (Bob Balaban). Guest’s standard formula is to
shoot over 50 hours of improvised material then cut it down (with editor
Robert Leighton) to feature length. As with Best in Show, the results
are good-natured and entertaining, but wildly uneven: inspired one moment,
falling bafflingly flat the next.
Guest’s usual
crew of familiar on-screen faces keep things watchable, however, with
the OTT likes of Fred Willard Jennifer Coolidge turning in broad but very
entertaining caricatures. And the ‘fake-folk’ songs themselves* are a
reliable source of amusement – especially those contributed by earnest
trio The Folksmen (played by Spinal
Tap veterans Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean.) On-off
romantic duo Mitch and Mickey also provide good value – while spaced-out
Mitch (Eugene Levy, credited as co-writer) and perky-cutesy Mickey (Catherine
O’Hara) are both (amusingly) annoying in totally different ways, their
rendition of mawkish hit ‘A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow’ provides an
unexpectedly touching moment near the end.
Mitch and
Mickey are then joined by The Folksmen and the cheesy-grinning New Main
Street Singers (including an energetic Parker Posey, oddly underutilised
throughout) for a rousing rendition of the film’s title number – which
is followed, in established Guest style, by an epilogue catching up with
various key figures months later. There’s little new here, but as an undemanding
comedy it works just fine: chances are you’ll leave the cinema with a
smile on your face. Especially if you stick around for the closing credits
- which feature several of the amusingly fake-folk numbers in full and
provide a tempting taster for the (reportedly excellent) soundtrack CD.
9th February,
2004
(seen 5th February : Tyneside
Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
first seen
4th October, 2003 : click here
for original review (rating after first viewing : 5/10)
* credited
to Guest, McKean, Shearer, Levy and Annette O’Toole (yes, the star of
Cat People [1982] - she’s married to McKean).
by Neil
Young
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