A Mighty Wind (2003)

As Good As It Gets

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Organising a revival show for three 1960s folk music acts proves challenging for the son of a legendary concert promoter in this mockumentary from Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest. Much of the dialogue is memorable ("abuse in my family... mostly musical in nature") and the film is full of colourful characters, especially Fred Willard's stand-up comedian unaware of his own lameness. In fact, all concerned deliver energetically, and yet the film never coalesces into more than a series of rather random, offbeat episodes, none of which are especially funny. This is a rare comedy for which the audio commentary (by Levy and Guest) is actually funnier than the film itself as Guest keeps throwing in funny lines as "it was my idea to have him... talk" and as the pair discuss the detailed background stories they developed for each and every character (little of which made it into the final film). This perhaps highlights the film's biggest shortcoming: all of the characters are wonderfully imaginative, but the structure of the film never gives us a chance to get to know most of them and feel their anxiety/desire over a comeback. All that said and done, the film concludes on a strong note with a great eventual concert (and lots of memorable songs), but Guest's subsequent 'For Your Consideration' - and his debut 'The Big Picture' - provide a better indication of his talent.

The Christopher Guest music "mockumentary" strikes again within the folk music genre. He, along with Michael McKean and Harry Shearer and company have written and played their own songs that are quite close to the cheesy originals they were based upon. Funny that many will downgrade such a creation as it was supposed to be the music that was the base of the humor. Where performance can be funny (see "This Is Spinal Tap") the folk performances are a bit silly to start. If the music isn't legitimate, then the character based humor doesn't work and the characters are truly gems here. I may be the only one who found Eugene Levys' "Mitch" to be absolutely brilliant where others said he wasn't their cup of tea.... must not of hung around pretentious wanna be poet musicians! The PBS show is also brilliant with its silly drama that also is true to back stage dilemmas, a missing musician, other band set lists and caring about seeing another band perform. I have watched this movie a dozen times, but admit it may not be as delightful for everyone. The writing was so spot on that "when you put it that way, it's almost poetry. Almost."

Comedy in film is one thing which I tend to worry about more than many other factors. Perhaps it is due to the fact that I cannot precisely point out what I want from a comedy film that I feel uneasy watching them, afraid they will disappoint these hidden standards. With that in mind, and with an urge to laugh, I turned to the well trusted Christopher Guest.A musical mockumentary, A Mighty Wind covers the organisation of a tribute concert to recently deceased folk music magnate Irving Steinbloom, to be performed by three of the acts he helped launch in the course of his career: The New Main Street Singers; The Folksmen; Mitch & Mickey.Both A Mighty Wind and Best in Show, prior to my recent viewings thereof, lingered vaguely in the back of my mind from my first viewings several years ago. I can recall being, back then, thoroughly amused by the films but simultaneously gripped by a sense that so much was passing me by. It is only now that I realise quite how right I was, the layered approach to Guest's comedy ever more evident with the increased wisdom of years. Co-writing with Eugene Levy, and reputedly allowing for a great deal of improvisation, Guest creates a hybrid of comedic styles that keeps you laughing from start to stop. Perhaps it is in the nature of these humorous situations that the film finds its effect. There are no grand set pieces, no tigers in bathrooms. There are only people, behaving in an entirely human manner. Steinbloom's son, determined to give his father the perfect tribute, fusses over every detail of the concert, worrying that perhaps the chosen flowers may prove dangerous to exposed eyeballs. It is the realism of these characters, these situations, and these words that is so achingly funny. We all know people like this, people who would agree with the younger Steinbloom in his assessment of topiary hazards. Guest and co require no fantastical and otherworldly sequences of events to illicit our laughs; they need only reality and the true-to-life characteristics of the people around us. Real life is funnier than anything fantasy can dream up, and the mockumentary format makes A Mighty Wind feel as though this is reality at its most unadulterated. The laughs come fast, hard, and with an emphatic truth that makes them more amusing than just about anything else. This, I think, is the appeal of Guest's directorial work (or at least what I've seen of it), and it is what makes him one of the best comedic filmmakers today. Needless to say his regular cast works astoundingly well together, his reasons for re-using the same actors repeatedly easy to understand. What is truly exceptional about A Mighty Wind, ranking it above the frankly funnier Best in Show and more scathingly reflective For Your Consideration, is its humanity. I dare say nobody who watches this film will ever be able to forget the interminable sweetness of Mitch & Mickey, easily among the greatest screen couples of all time. An utterly compelling and at times quite saddening romantic subplot underscores the film with such a poetic drama that one cannot help but be moved as well as amused. And their song... Oh their song... Words cannot describe.With the wonderful humour of Guest's comedies, A Mighty Wind stands head and shoulders above almost all competition. Its humour lies in the reality of its situations, and the normality of its characters. Equipped with a disarmingly charming romance that will test the most hardened of hearts, it also boasts a fantastic soundtrack to compliment this fantastic comedy.

Though I might not understand folk music as much as I do the world of rock or heavy metal as so perfectly committed in mockumentary form in This Is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest and co have failed to get the same reaction out of me in this film, neither in concept nor in execution. Concept-wise, the film would work but it seems that the story could have benefited from the direction of someone else other than Christopher Guest, who doesn't manage to pull off the mockumentary look (or flow) like Rob Reiner or others before him have done.Over-acting on the part of several players (most prominently Eugene Levy and Fred Willard) really sold this as a terrible mockery of the mockumentary genre. The plot was lost in the attempt to film this as a mockumentary and so the film loses its ability to define itself much like most of the folk singers are incapable of dealing with the loss of their identities in the latter parts of their lives after the folk sensation died down.This one gave too much away, the only way I didn't recognize This Is Spinal Tap as a real documentary in its realism was the appearance of Fran Drescher. Definitely a weak movie, this one.