A Mighty Wind

Reviewed by EWAN MCDONALD


Herald rating: * * * *

Old heavy metallers don't die, they come back as folkies. Christopher Guest returns to the music scene where he made his name in 1984 with the hilarious satire of the rock lifestyle and dreams, This Is Spinal Tap.

Returns so closely, in fact, that the three members of Spinal Tap become a hippy, trippy hillbilly band, the Folksmen.

So much as there is a story, it begins with the death of promoter Irving Steinbloom. His son (Bob Balaban) wants to honour his father by getting his three biggest acts on the stage for the first time since the 60s.

They are the wholesome New Main Street Singers — anyone else remember the New Christy Minstrels? Wonder what happened to their lead singer, some bloke called Kenny Rogers? The Singers are led by husband-and-wife Terry (John Michael Higgins) and Laurie Bohner (Jane Lynch), who joined after a career in porn films.

The Folksmen (Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean) are a hillbilly trio who came to the big city and turned to novelty songs like Eat At Joe's, complete with 60s-style TV set in which appropriate neon letters are blanked out.

Mitch and Mickey — think Sonny and Cher — are the strongest story. Mitch (Eugene Levy) doubts he can still sing or even remember the lyrics, because he lived the 60s too well, and is heartbroken because his famous onstage kiss with Mickey (Catherine O'Hara) did not lead to romance offstage. In fact, she is now married to a catheter salesman who builds model railways in their home.

Like Spinal Tap, and Guest's other "mockumentaries" Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman, the movie is largely unscripted, each character given an outline and allowed to ad-lib or upstage the others in a series of "interviews". Much of it is Guest and his mates' versions of the songs and imitations of early TV music shows. The second half is almost given to the memorial concert.

Which is great for those of us who can remember, all too painfully. A younger generation might think, you had to be there.

DVD features: movie (92min); commentary by director Christopher Guest and co-writer/star Eugene Levy; additional scenes; live TV broadcast of the entire concert; "Vintage" TV appearances by the bands; group "biographies."