Product Details

• Actors: Bob Balaban, Michael Baser, Marty Belafsky, Paul Dooley, Tyler Forsberg
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 23, 2003
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (198 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000ALFVE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,648 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's A Mighty Wind a-blowin', along with the gales of laughter you'll get from Christopher Guest's third exercise in brilliant "mockumentary." After tackling small-town theatricals in Waiting for Guffman and obsessive dog-show contestants in Best in Show, Guest and his reliable stable of repertory players (including Fred Willard, Parker Posey, and Bob Balaban) apply their improvisational genius to a latter-day reunion of fictional '60s-era folk singers, a comedic goldmine that Guest first explored 30 years earlier on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Collaborating with costar and cowriter Eugene Levy (who gives the film's funniest performance), Guest is so delicate in his satirical approach that the laughs aren't always obvious, and the subtlety can be as wistful (as in Catherine O'Hara's performance as Levy's auto-harpist partner) as it is hilarious. Some may wish for more blatant comedy, but that would compromise the genuine affection that Guest & Co. have for the music they're spoofing. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Documentary-style Comedy. Christopher Guest follows up his acclaimed ensemble comedies Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman with a docu-comedy about three folk groups from the 60s who reunite for a memorial concert in New York City following the death of a legendary folk manager.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite character-driven comedy, just satirical enough., May 21, 2003

By	Miles D. Moore (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Christopher Guest is the anti-Adam Sandler. Guest writes and directs comedies for people with reasonable attention spans, who can appreciate subtly wacky jokes and skilled performances by an ensemble of real comic actors. While he's always in his movies, he's always one of the ensemble, never in a "Look At Me, I'm a Star!" mode. "A Mighty Wind," which he directed and co-wrote with Eugene Levy, is a worthy addition to Guest's filmography--an affectionately goofy sendup of '60s folk music, set against the backdrop of a memorial concert for a folk music promoter. Guest is a master of the ever-so-slightly-askew, presenting his eccentric characters in talking-head interviews in which they matter-of-factly reveal themselves to be totally bonkers. There are so many delightful performances here that it's hard to mention them all, but one should note Guest himself, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer--aka Spinal Tap--as a semi-successful folk trio, the Folksmen; Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, two of the brightest lights of SCTV, as the star-crossed duo Mitch and Mickey; and such underrated masters of comic acting as Fred Willard and Paul Dooley. One of the best things about this movie is that all of the actors are professional-class singers, and write songs that sound absolutely authentic until you listen closely to the words...Anyway, if you have anything like a well-developed sense of humor, you should find "A Mighty Wind" a source of constant chuckles and frequent belly laughs.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guest just keeps on going, and going, and going...., January 20, 2004

By	L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Mighty Wind (DVD)

Christopher Guest first came to prominence in 1984, as an assistant and star in Rob Reiner's hilarious "This is Spinal Tap".

Guest learned at the hands of the master, and the last 20 years of his career have been spent on mockumentary efforts ("Waiting for Guffman", "Best in Show", and, in 2002, "A Mighty Wind", where he decided to satirize the 60's folk music movement, something he and his fellow Spinal-Tappers had once done as a skit on Saturday Night Live). There are hallmarks in Guest's work. He utilizes a co-writer, the newly popular Eugene Levy (the best part of Steve Martin's recent "Bringing Down the House"), he has a regular cast of character actors that ad-lib their way through zany and satirical situations in all three films, and he conquers the art form of teasing fans and popular culture icons with gentle spoofing, double entendres, hidden meanings, and really great filmmaking.

Although I enjoyed the film in the theater, it really came into its own when I was able to watch the DVD where I could marvel at the details and depths of Guest and Levy's imagination, and the brilliance of their comedy. It's strewn throughout the film, but a lot is captured and hightlighed in the DVD's special features.

The premise of the film is simple:

Irving Steinbloom, aged icon of the 50's and 60's folk music scene, has died in New York. His son, who followed him in managing folk music acts, Jonathon (Bob Balaban)endeavors to create a "PBN" concert in his dad's memory, bringing together three of dad's oldest and most famous acts. We get to see the faded stars in their lives today, deciding to do the show, then practicing, traveling to the Big Apple and enduring some mild hoopla and memories. Finally, we see the big event.

It was easy to pick out the most outstanding performance of the film, it belonged to co-writer Levy (as Mitch), who completely convinces you, iron gray wig and all, that he is an unhinged, deer-in-the-headlights folk icon, with much of his early musical promise deadened by the cornucopia of meds he's taken over the last three decades, to try to capture some mental stability. To fully appreciate his performance, and the droll wit that drives Levy, see his ad-lib in the Special Features press conference, where Mitch does a completely credible and incredible speech, comparing Rap music to folk music. You gotta see it to believe it!

Strolling through the DVD also brought out the idiosyncrasies in the film and let me marvel at the comedic turns of the delightful Jennifer Coolidge (as Amber Cole, eastern European escapee and PR agent) and John Michael Higgins (as Terry Bohner. Leader of the "New Main Street Singers"). Both were completely over the top in "Best of Show", and even more laughable here. Both are amazing scene stealers, but you have to think back over the scene to realize it.

In the Special Features, you're really crushed to find deleted scenes that should have survived the film's editing (particularly Coolidge in a deadpan "piccolo" joke), memorable songs ("The Good Book", by the New Main Street Singers, is hilarious) and the unmatched wry and acerbic humor of commentators Guest and Levy. Guest, with amazing attention to detail, even filmed the concert portion of "A Mighty Wind" with TV cameras to be able to recreate the concert as it might have appeared on PBS or public access.

"AMW" is not for everyone. Those who won't want to probe for the humor or the double entendre or can't reminisce about the golden age and the innocence of folk music will probably think it dull, dull, dull. I've rated it four stars, because it pales in comparison to Guffman and Best in Show, but I must say, I really enjoyed the film.

Guest is a genius at understated, satirical comedy and at making gentle, loving jibes at pop culture stereotypes. Although "AMW" may be the lesser of his three films, it still proves that he is truly the king of film comedy. Can't wait for his next one!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mighty entertaining, April 16, 2003

By	Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.