Christopher Guest is the master of the mockumentary.  There isn’t anyone else who is close.  A Mighty Wind is the first of three mock docs written and directed by Guest on my list.  This Is Spinal Tap is actually not one of them.  It just missed.  Maybe what puts it a notch below the three that did is it was only written by Guest.  Rob Reiner directed it.  I don’t want to take anything away from Reiner, he’s done some great work; Guest just gets it more than anyone else.  Anyway, to the movie…

A Mighty Wind is the story about a beloved folk music promoter from the 60’s who passed away and his children (mostly his son played neurotically brilliant by Bob Balaban) want to put on a memorial concert for him starring a few of the acts that he helped make (relatively) famous.   All of these groups have obviously disbanded since their hey day of the mid 60’s so this mockumentary gives a brief history of each group, what they are currently doing, their reunions, first rehearsals in years and at last the big performance.  I was not around yet when the groups that these pseudo groups are mimicking, but from old TV shows and documentaries I have seen they all seem like dead on impersonations.  

The three groups are The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers and the headliners Mitch and Mickey.  The Folksmen include the three main actors who played Spinal Tap making it a reunion in reality as well as in the movie.  The New Main Street Singers are a hilariously cheesy tribute band for the original Main Street Singers.  They probably brought me the biggest laughs of the movie, especially because they are managed by a has-been TV personality who never really was played by one of the funniest people on Earth, Fred Willard.  I can go on about him, but will have plenty of time to do that in future reviews.  Mitch, played by Eugene Levy and Mickey, played by Catherine O’Hara were once young lovers who had a couple of hit records together.  Their relationship ended badly and left Mitch a confused and depressed shadow of his formal self. (Check these links for a few clips from the movie)  

While utterly hilarious and filled with great original music, I think what keeps this from being quite as good as Guest’s initial mock docs is that it isn’t quite as mean to its characters.  The laughs are a tad more good natured.  Also the movie revolves maybe a little too much on the relationship between Mitch and Mickey whose story is a little more sad than funny.  There is actually some drama there which at points kills the good mood.  That’s not to say they aren’t interesting or funny.  Levy especially has some moments that will have you on the floor.  Some of their parts just give you too long of a break between laughs.  None the less, the ensemble cast filled with Guest’s regulars are all pitch perfect hysterical and overall you will have hard time finding a movie that makes you laugh this hard and this often…  Unless you keep reading of course; because I do have some more for you as the list keeps going.

Something else to look out for.  The final performance which is televised on a fictional public access channel is a spot on parody of the reunion concerts for old doo-wop and hippie groups from the sixties that currently air on PBS.  If you ever happen to run across one of these shows while flipping through the channels you should stop and check it out.  Not a lot of things that make me laugh harder than seeing these old bands singing songs about their long hair, smoking weed and fighting the man.