Ok, I just saw the movie earlier today, and I have to say that I came out of the theater disappointed.
Now, just to get this out in the open, I'm a huge fan of Spinal Tap. I think that it was nothing short of brilliance, possibly the funniest movie ever made and one of my favorite movies made in the final quarter of the 20th century. More recent works of Christopher Guest, however, have been a bit of a let-down compared to that first comet. I found Waiting for Guffman to be stale, uninspired and just rather un-funny. However, I enjoyed Best in Show considerably, I found some of the characters to be hilarious (such as Fred Willard's, Christopher Guest's and Parker Posey's) and thought it was a huge step made towards making the same sort of genius accomplished in Spinal Tap. So, perhaps A Mighty Wind was built up a bit too much in my mind.
So here's my probably oversimplified review of the movie:
The good: The six or seven funny parts in the movie (I won't elaborate, don't want to spoil it for others).
The Bad: Pretty much everything else.
Why: Well, most of the movie just wasn't comedy. A lot of it was actually quite serious and dramatic, seeming out of place for a movie advertised as a comedy. Either that, or A Mighty Wind is actually a drama with-out-of-place over-the-top comedic bits. Of course, there are some comedic bits which fall flat, basically being much too silly (for lack of a better word). What Christopher Guest needs to realize is that the improvised format which he has made, really (in my opinion, of course) lends itself to more subtle humor than for completely over the top comedy. That is what makes Spinal Tap and, to a lesser extent, Best in Show great. The best scenes in Spinal Tap were just the explanations of the band's past, songs, quirks and messages. The best parts of Waiting for Guffman were invariably Christopher Guest and the Parker Posey/Michael Hitchcook duo just talking about their dogs, and showing us, comparatively subtly, how they over-dramatize the importance of dogs.
Going on to a more practical complaint: I thought that there just were too many characters. Not that you can't keep track of them all, it's just that with all those characters, you can only devote so many scenes to each one. This means that some of the more interesting and funny characters (the Folksmen) don't get quite as many scenes as you would want or expect. If Christopher Guest makes another movie, I sincerely hope that he reduces the size of the cast, so we can focus on a small group of colorful characters, rather than a very large group of mostly dull ones, sprinkled here and there with funny ones.
Another complaint: Very unbalanced, as I mentioned before. Some characters are very comedic (The leaders of the Main Street Singers) and others are really quite dramatic (Mitch and Mickey), making it an unhealthy mend, with uneasy contrasts from scene to scene. It's almost as if Guest told Levy (yes, I know he wrote half of it) and O'Hara that it was a drama while he told John Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch that it was an absurd comedy.
Well, I hope that you, if you actually read this far (congratulations, if you actually read all of it!) gained something from reading this review. Good evening.
Now, just to get this out in the open, I'm a huge fan of Spinal Tap. I think that it was nothing short of brilliance, possibly the funniest movie ever made and one of my favorite movies made in the final quarter of the 20th century. More recent works of Christopher Guest, however, have been a bit of a let-down compared to that first comet. I found Waiting for Guffman to be stale, uninspired and just rather un-funny. However, I enjoyed Best in Show considerably, I found some of the characters to be hilarious (such as Fred Willard's, Christopher Guest's and Parker Posey's) and thought it was a huge step made towards making the same sort of genius accomplished in Spinal Tap. So, perhaps A Mighty Wind was built up a bit too much in my mind.
So here's my probably oversimplified review of the movie:
The good: The six or seven funny parts in the movie (I won't elaborate, don't want to spoil it for others).
The Bad: Pretty much everything else.
Why: Well, most of the movie just wasn't comedy. A lot of it was actually quite serious and dramatic, seeming out of place for a movie advertised as a comedy. Either that, or A Mighty Wind is actually a drama with-out-of-place over-the-top comedic bits. Of course, there are some comedic bits which fall flat, basically being much too silly (for lack of a better word). What Christopher Guest needs to realize is that the improvised format which he has made, really (in my opinion, of course) lends itself to more subtle humor than for completely over the top comedy. That is what makes Spinal Tap and, to a lesser extent, Best in Show great. The best scenes in Spinal Tap were just the explanations of the band's past, songs, quirks and messages. The best parts of Waiting for Guffman were invariably Christopher Guest and the Parker Posey/Michael Hitchcook duo just talking about their dogs, and showing us, comparatively subtly, how they over-dramatize the importance of dogs.
Going on to a more practical complaint: I thought that there just were too many characters. Not that you can't keep track of them all, it's just that with all those characters, you can only devote so many scenes to each one. This means that some of the more interesting and funny characters (the Folksmen) don't get quite as many scenes as you would want or expect. If Christopher Guest makes another movie, I sincerely hope that he reduces the size of the cast, so we can focus on a small group of colorful characters, rather than a very large group of mostly dull ones, sprinkled here and there with funny ones.
Another complaint: Very unbalanced, as I mentioned before. Some characters are very comedic (The leaders of the Main Street Singers) and others are really quite dramatic (Mitch and Mickey), making it an unhealthy mend, with uneasy contrasts from scene to scene. It's almost as if Guest told Levy (yes, I know he wrote half of it) and O'Hara that it was a drama while he told John Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch that it was an absurd comedy.
Well, I hope that you, if you actually read this far (congratulations, if you actually read all of it!) gained something from reading this review. Good evening.