A Mighty Wind on DVD

What Hollywood needs is more movies about folk music.

Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, the team behind Best in Show (and Guest was also involved in This is Spinal Tap), obviously realized this, and wrote a documentary-style film all about – you guessed it – folk music.

When a famous folk music producer dies, his son (Bob Balaban) decides to put on a folk music TV special to honor his father. He reunites three folk bands that were popular many years ago, gets them practiced up, and puts them on stage.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer play The Folksmen, a one-hit wonder trio with three interesting hairstyles. Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are Mitch & Mickey, former lovers who were famous for being in love, but have since had a bit of a falling out. So much so, that Mitch has gone insane and Mickey has just simply stopped playing music altogether. There are also The New Main Street Singers, a serious and color-coordinated band, and the next generation of The Main Street Singers.

Written and filmed just like a VH1 “Behind the Music” special, A Mighty Wind features a series of interviews with the band members, friends and fans. But, since much of the film is improvised, the interviews look and feel authentic, as if the people were making it up on the spot (possibly because they are).

And as much as we hate to admit it, the folk songs are actually pretty catchy (we looked down a few times to see our foot tapping, but quickly put a stop to it).

It’s definitely an entertaining movie, but for some reason it’s not as funny as you’d expect it to be. There’s so much talent involved and such a riotous idea that you’d expect to be on the floor for 90 minutes straight. In fact, most of the humor is not even chuckle-out-loud inducing. To be fair, you’re very often laughing in your head, but it just doesn’t make it to the surface very often.

But if you enjoy This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, or any of the other films from this team, A Mighty Wind just might be worth checking out. You could do a lot worse.

It didn’t garner the box office success expected, even for a smaller film, but it’s still been given a pretty decent little DVD. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture is not bad, but a little soft. The colors are bright and detail is pretty good, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t look right. The shots that are supposed to be from the ‘60s look appropriately dated, but the rest of the movie should have looked a little more like a documentary.

The 5.1 Dolby Digital is fairly reserved, with the exception of when the bands are playing. There’s not a single ounce of surround use otherwise, but the dialogue is always perfectly audible.

Extras include a very entertaining commentary by Guest and Levy. The two are famous for their comedy, and you can tell they’re just naturally funny guys, but you also learn a lot about the production. There are also nearly half an hour of deleted scenes, “vintage” TV appearances by the bands, and the entire live broadcast of the folk concert.

A Mighty Wind, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
92 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Bob Balaban, Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard
Produced by Karen Murphy
Written by Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy, Directed by Christopher Guest

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