From the makers of "Best in Show" comes...

A Mighty Wind
Guest directs the same wonderful actors in this take on a folk music festival. The scenes I saw on The Today Show the other day look very funny. And I can't get enough of Eugene Levy.

Damn small towns! Most likely we won't get this one. Guess a trip to Denver is in order (that's where I caught "Best in Show" anyway, at the beautiful historic Mayan Theater).
Read the reviews!
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/AMightyWind-1121777/

Dan C

 

Looks like another winner. EW gives it an A. I'll have to search this one out here on Long Island.

 

I'm a little disappointed Fred Willard isn't featured this time out--his dead-perfect Joe Garagiola impersonation was the funniest part of Best In Show, IMO.

Still, I loved that movie and Waiting For Guffman, so I'll definitely be checking this one out.

 

I've gotta see this one. I picked up a copy of the soundtrack LP (on vinyl!) a week ago, and it's funny as hell. "Guffman" and "Best in Show" are two of the most hilarious flicks I've ever seen.

 

The soundtrack's on vinyl? Cool!
Confession time: I've never seen "Waiting for Guffman".
I need to take care of that this weekend.
Dan C

 

Why do you say there's no FW in "Wind"? He plays a big role in the flick, and just as with "Show", he offers the funniest bits.

Just saw "Wind" yesterday and have to admit it didn't do a lot for me. However, I provide one major caveat: I NEVER feel very impressed with these flicks when I first see them. I thought both "Show" and "Tap" were disappointing the first time too, so I fully expect I'll think more of "Wind" when I watch it again. (On DVD, natch...)

 

I saw the Folksmen live not that long ago.

 

Just got home after seeing "A Mighty Wind." Another winner from this team. Terrific, loving parody of the 60s folk scene. Only real fans of the genre could get the songs to sound so right. One of very few movies I've seen in a while that I wish had gone on longer.

I laughed a lot more tonight than I did last week at "Anger Management."

 

Saw this last night and LOVED IT! There are just a handful of scenes that fall flat, but most are right on the mark. I am impressed how Guest and company can take on a subject and poke fun at it in a dignified way.

 

April 20, 2003
QUESTIONS FOR EUGENE LEVY
Good Humor Man
Interview by LYNN HIRSCHBERG / New York Times

''A Mighty Wind,'' which is set in the world of folk music, is the third comedy that you and Christopher Guest have written. This, like your other movies -- ''Waiting for Guffman'' and ''Best in Show'' -- features an ensemble cast and has an improvised, documentary feel. How, then, do you write these films?

It's a strange process. On ''A Mighty Wind,'' like our other films, we started with an idea. We wanted to do something musical, and Chris said, ''What about folk music?'' We scripted an outline and did a massive amount of research. On ''Best in Show,'' we went to a lot of dog shows. And on this movie, we listened to hundreds of records. Then we wrote characters, but no dialogue. We did elaborate histories for each character, where they came from, who played with whom. None of that ever ends up in the movie, but it adds depth. If we think of a funny joke, we'll put it in, but the movies have no written dialogue. They are totally improvised.

But you wrote the songs.

Yes. I did folk singing when it was actually happening. I had a group in high school, the Tri-Tones. We were like the Kingston Trio. You know, pink-and-white striped shirts were our big investment. We were very popular with the Board of Education -- we played a lot of high schools and colleges. Then I was in a group called Tuesday's Children. We played coffeehouses.

Did folk music seem funny to you?

No, no, no. It's really not the least bit funny. When we researched the music, it brought a tear to my eye. This movie was not the funniest story line we ever came up with. I think that's why people think of our movies as being like documentaries. We take a world and show the characters. I just can't stand when people call the movies ''mockumentaries.''

Why?

I've never liked comedy when somebody can get hurt. I've never understood what's funny about the Friars roast, which is a bunch of people ripping someone to shreds.

Were you a funny kid?

No, no. I don't consider myself funny now. I can be funny when I want to be funny. I don't like being funny all the time. With me, it was a gradual thing. In high school, I'd write these odd little poems and prose. And when John Lennon's book ''In His Own Write'' was published, there were similarities in his work and mine. We had the same tone. My poems were published in the school paper and, suddenly, people thought I was funny. They also thought I was John Lennon.

That must have made you popular. Men long to be considered funny.

I know. I've never really understood that. I think they believe that being funny will take some of the heat off the expectation that they are good lovers. But what most men don't realize is that you're either funny or you're not. People who try to be funny scare me. The worst is someone who says, ''I heard a great joke.'' I don't like jokes. I tense up. I start thinking, How am I going to laugh?

What about impressions? I always find those upsetting.

At SCTV, I was the only person who could not do impressions. Chris Guest told me about the Bad Impression Club, which is a group of his friends who do bad impressions. You still have to get the essence of the person you're impersonating, but you do it badly. That, to me, is funny. I think I could do that.

Well, that's really the heart of these movies -- they capture a certain essence of each character without resorting to stereotype.

We try to keep the material as straight as possible. For example, we had to learn all the instrumentals for ''A Mighty Wind.'' I had to learn guitar; Parker Posey had to learn the mandolin. I think we're going to have a concert, but the idea of that still makes me scratch my head. It's pretend folk musicians. We should give the audience pretend money. But I guess there's an authenticity to it. With all the fiction, we are looking for poignancy, for a moment. In ''A Mighty Wind,'' we have long moments of silence. I think a certain amount of suffering can be funny.

Could you envision a career as a folk singer?

If I wanted to starve to death. If I wanted to drop 40, 50 pounds right away. Without comedy, I ain't gonna make a dime.

 

Thanks for that post, Tony. A nice read.
Dan C

 

I hope it sticks around Denver long enough for me to get to see it! It sure ain't coming here that's for sure.

Dan C

 

Saw it this weekend. Absolutely hilarious. It should be mandatory that these people make at least one movie a year.

Jeff

 

Yes, another terrific Christopher Guest satire! The guys here on the forum should get a special kick out of the vinyl and record album cover jokes.

And who said Fred Willard's not in the flick?

"Wha happened?"

 

For some reason I missed Willard's name in the cast list. Ex-cuuuuuuuuse me!

Glad he's in it.

 

Oh yeah, the part where they end up on the budget label that was so budget that the record didn't have a hole in the center. The customer had to make their own hole. Just killed me, I was rolling on the floor and the little old lady sitting next to me in the theater wasn't too cool with that.

Jeff

 

NO SPOILERS!!! Don't give away any more jokes until I see it!!!!!!!!

Dan C

 

A TEASER...

Disclaimer: I am not now nor have I ever been Eugene Levy.

 

Sorry pal, I'll resist further temptation.

Jeff

 

I give it a thumbs-up, too ... saw it on Saturday. I absolutely loved Guest's other movies, and this one is in the same league for me, maybe even better ... I thought it was heart-warming in a way the others weren't. But the laughs are still there too.

Now when's the DVD coming out?

 

I saw it on Saturday, and I think this is a return to form for Guest. I didn't care for Best in Show, but I did like WFG. I thought Fred Willard's humor was a bit out of place in this one, but I guess that's the point of his character. It didn't seem like a satire of the folk scene, the tunes were more like children's music. Burl Ives, maybe the Kingston Trio. But it was true to its own invented world, which was good enough. I can't help thinking of Shearer, Guest, and McKean as Spinal Tap. Every time I see Guest I keep thinking 'Yeah, but this one goes to 11', and how much he looked like Jeff Beck. Also, although unintended I kept thinking that Mitch's life trajectory was a bit like Brian Wilson's. I was practically laying on the floor laughing for the first half hour. When you say it like that, it sounds like poetry...almost.