A Mighty Wind

I felt this very much in the vein of "Spinal Tap" (1984), only it sets it's docusoap cap squarely at the American folk music scene. One of it's legendary stalwarts - "Irving Steinbloom" - has gone to play his heavenly harp and so the industry are reuniting some of their great and good to commemorate his achievements. This is going to be easier said than done as the trio of acts selected for the tribute haven't played together since God was but an infant. There's "The New Main Street Singers" - a sort of "Bucks Fizz" with whiter teeth; "The Folksmen" - a sort of "Wurzels" without the combine harvester, and then finally there's the lovingly devoted "Mitch and Mickey" - a sort of "Carpenters" meets "Peters and Lee" outfit. What now ensues could hardly be more apposite twenty-odd years later as we see the rise in the popularity of a surfeit of ageing songsters whose voices have long since turned to wisps but who are determined to play to an audience just as determined to pay through the nose to receive this hugely welcome nostalgia hit. Christopher Guest starred in, directed and wrote this and I think he did a really good job at keeping this in the realms of satirical review rather than being cruel. Sure, it plays to just about every cheesy stereotype you can imagine - especially "Ma and Pa Klapper", and the overly detailed love story between the "Bohner" duo of Jane Lynch and John Michael Higgins, but it always remains good-humoured as it progresses. It's never nasty as it sends up the entire proceedings and their motivations, but instead has a warmth to it that I found funny and engaging. I worked in telly for thirty years so especially enjoyed Ed Begey Jr's "Lars" who livens things up as the network's completely clueless executive producer and that role also allows us to take a bit of a jovial swipe at the culture and extravagance of entertainment television - and those who direct it with all the enthusiasm of a dental abscess, as well as pinging the world of the impresario - largely thanks to Guest himself asking some breathtakingly daft questions with an hour to go to on-air. It's a sharp and witty comedy that I thought flew by for ninety minutes and memories of those Saturday night television shows with folks sitting on stools playing their guitars (and probably miming) came flooding back - like it or not.