Obviously working on the wise premise ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ Guest continues in the same vein with A Mighty Wind which has the 60s folk music scene firmly in his sights.

The loose plot around revolves around the organisation and performance of a reunion concert by three bands to honour the memory of a recently deceased manager of folk groups from the 1960s. The groups reunited are The Folksman, a serious folk trio consisting of the members of Spinal Tap (Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean), The New Main Street Singers, a nine-piece combo (a self described neuftet) of overly cheery misfits and Mitch and Mickey, the one time lovers who sang about and traded on their romanticism but who are now bitterly estranged.

Eugene Levy who also co wrote this, and will be familiar as the father in the American Pie trilogy, steals the show as Mitch, the ex mental asylum patient who never recovered from the demise of his relationship with Mickey. He wanders though the film with the vacant expression of the man still on the very edge of himself, with the exception of when he’s performing.

Much of the film is a delight as we learn of the ex-porn actress, turned Main Street Singer, who worships a dimension of colour, and how The Folksmen signed to a record label that couldn’t afford to punch holes in their records. A definite highlight is the reflections on the solo releases of Mitch, which included the songs ‘If I Had A Gun’ and ‘May She Rot in Hell’ from the album A Cry For Help, just prior to his being institutionalised. It doesn’t all work quite so well though and the epilogue particularly the scene of The Folksmen is laboured, contrasting the film’s subtle and wry humour with something altogether more base.

As a part parody, part celebration of the folk music scene it’s both clever and humourous and has plenty to recommend it but perhaps due to the improvisational nature of the work Guest does when he makes a film it won’t appeal to those who like their laughs of the more obvious and sign posted nature. 
(3½/5)

Release Date: 14 June 2004