These acts are all uncannily close to types we vaguely remember from "Hootenanny" and other shows, if we are over 40, and "A Mighty Wind" does for aging folkies what Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" did for aging heavy metal fans. If you ever actually spent money on an album by the Brothers Four, you may feel you vaguely remember some of the songs.
Guest follows the general outlines of the real (and wonderful) documentary "The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!," joining his characters in their current lives, and then leading them through apprehensions and rehearsals to their big concert. The Folksmen are the most analytical about their comeback ("It wasn't retro then, but it's retro now"), the New Main Street Singers the most inanely cheerful (most of the members weren't born when the original group was formed), and Mitch and Mickey the most fraught with painful old memories (and in Mitch's case, new emotional traumas).
Mitch and Mickey dominate the film, providing a dramatic story that takes on a life of its own. Mitch is played by Levy as a deeply neurotic man who doubts he can still sing or even remember lyrics, and who still has a broken heart because a famous onstage kiss with Mickey did not lead to lasting offstage romance. When he disappears from backstage shortly before showtime, we may be reminded of Ringo's solo walk in "A Hard Day's Night." Guest surrounds his talent with the usual clueless types he likes to skewer in his films. Fred Willard, hilarious as the color commentator in "Best in Show," is back playing a promoter and onetime TV star who was famous for five minutes for the catch-phrase "Wha' Happened?" He laughs at his own jokes to demonstrate to his silent listeners that they are funny. Ed Begley Jr. plays an obtuse public television executive named Lars, whose speech is punctuated by an impenetrable thicket of Yiddish. Balaban, as the dutiful son and impresario, frets over every detail of the performance, and is the singularly ill-at-ease emcee.
A lot of the movie consists of music, much of it written by Guest and other collaborators in the cast, and that is an enjoyment and a problem. The songs actually do capture the quality of the lesser groups of the time. They are performed in uncanny imitations of early TV musical staging. The movie demolishes any number of novelty songs with the Folksmen's version of "Eat at Joe's," based on a faulty neon sign that reads, "E ... A ... O." But there comes a point when the movie becomes ... well, performances and not comedy. The final act of the movie mostly takes place during the televised concert, and almost against its will takes on the dynamic of a real concert and not a satirical one.
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