A Mighty Wind

Reviewed by:
Paul Ulane

This is Spinal Tap…unplugged. Sorta. In A Mighty Wind, a group of washed-up, folk-singing superstars from the ’60s reunite onstage for a final show to honor their recently deceased manager. Song parodies and uncomfortable silences, compliments of director Christopher Guest’s usual brand of documentary filmmaking, provide the hilarious cringes; Guest regulars Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Fred Willard, and a host of others, meanwhile, provide the off-beat music. Commentary, with nonstop faux bickering by Guest and Levy, reveals the secrets behind such bizarre comedy: in short, shaved heads covered by toupees and lots of improv. The rest of the extras make good on a workaday assortment of bonus material: loads of deleted scenes that could easily have made the final cut; “original performances” from ’60s TV appearances; and hidden extras with behind-the-scenes secrets and camera tests featuring riotously stiff editors in place of absent actors. In another mockumental victory for Guest and his cronies, this Mighty Wind proves that folk music doesn’t have to blow. (Just when you thought you’d get through the entire review without a bad pun, bam!)

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