This was not the film that I was expecting, I guessed as much when I saw Ang Lee's name role past in the opening credits, and the notion was confirmed two hours later. I thought I was in for whimsical comedy and free spirited stoner philosophising, but the reality is somewhat different. In the end it is a more personal voyage of discovery for the central character, however once things are set in motion his involvement feels peripheral, and events happen around him, driven by others. There are some stand-out performances, Imelda Staunton is priceless as the protagonist's mother and she and the excellent Henry Goodman create a fascinating relationship that is central to the film. Demetri Martin's turn in the central role is rather low key by comparison, and that may be the problem, since everyone else seems larger than life, his performance gets lost in the 'far out' stuff going on around him. The hallucinogenic scenes are well done, and there is a brief burst of action, centred on Mr. Goodman, but largely the pacing is flat, and this does not help. Perhaps the most telling thing is that this is a 2 hour film about a music festival with almost no musical performances in it. I think that would confound most people's expectations. It certainly did mine.

It's seems remarkable to me that such a massive historic event as the one portrayed in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock has largely been ignored in the movies, when it included many giants of the industry and took place in one of the most beloved era's in our recent history. The event I'm referring to is, of course, the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969. The Festival was documented in the epic 1970 documentary Woodstock, but Lee's film concentrates on the creation of the Festival, the resistance the creators were faced with by the townspeople, and the dedication that the protagonist Elliot Teichberg had in what he saw as putting money into his poor parents pockets and back into the town's economy.Teichberg (played with ease by stand-up comic Demetri Martin) is a successful interior designer and President of the Chamber of Commerce who spends most of his time handing his parents money so they can keep running their s**t-hole motel, in which his miser mother tries to saves money by turning the bed sheets over rather than actually washing them. His long-suffering father spends his days in a semi-daze after years of living with his Russian-born wife who accuses anyone in her path of being an anti-Semite and reminds them of her struggle escaping from the Nazi's during WWII.When Teichberg overhears that the original location to hold the Festival falls through due to opposition from the town members, he uses his permit (purchased for $1 for his usual small arts festival for the theatre troupe that lives in his barn) to lure the organisers to Woodstock and obtains permission to have free reign to use the acres of land owned by dairy-farmer Max Lasgur (the ever-brilliant Eugene Levy). He is aided by festival organiser Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) and transvestite Vilma, who, being played by giant Liev Schreiber, looks ridiculous in a blond wig, but played to fantastic comic effect.There are both strengths and weaknesses for the film, unfortunately a lot more of the latter. The film beautifully captures the era without going overboard, and it wisely keeps the focus on the main character's plight to make the concert work rather than shifting to the concert itself. But, while the character of Teichberg is interesting himself, his relationship with his mother and father takes up most of the film's focus, and it just isn't either convincing or interesting enough. His mother is uptight and unappreciative of her son's input in the family business, spending years saving any money she can while her son goes broke and the business suffers. It's a storyline that's been covered many times before and offers nothing new, although played well by the ever-reliable Imelda Staunton. Thank God, then, for the sweet relationship that develops between father Jake (Henry Goodman) and Schreiber's character, with the former fully engaging with the swarm of hippies on their motel and finding a new dimension and meaning to his life.I must admit I was expecting more from a director of the magnitude of Ang Lee, capturing the same kind of magic found in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, but it's never quite funny, dramatic or engaging enough. Many scenes fall flat, such as a spectacularly unfunny scene where Teichberg's parents eat 'special' brownies given to them by Vilma and proceed to dance and laugh with their son before stumbling into their bedroom and falling asleep. And the inclusion of Emile Hirsch's character - an isolated and paranoid Vietnam veteran who is struggling to fit back into home life - is just poorly written and wholly unconvincing.Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh, or maybe I just expect more from Ang Lee. It is elevated by good performances by Martin and Schreiber. It also has a few nice moments - namely when we experience a screaming crowd turn into waves of psychedelic lights through the eyes of an acid- influenced Teichberg. An easy film to watch, but disappointingly run-of- the-mill.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

I really liked this movie, which follows a somewhat nebbishy guy who gets involved in the Woodstock music festival. I liked the movie right off, although the funniest moment is very early on when Imelda Staunton (who is terrific as the protagonists sour mom) goes on a rant in a bank.The movie shows how the main character, played by Demetri Martin, evolves through the forces that surround him during a fateful few weeks. It's not unusual in movies to see the straight-laced guy opened up by free spirits, but this is still an interesting take on it.One of the interesting things about the movie is that the concert itself is rather incidental. It is the scene, the audience, the carpenters, the promoters, that are what change Demetri's life. I thought that was a really clever, intelligent, thoughtful, unusual approach.Most of the people who complain about this movie disagreed. I can't believe how many people complained about the lack of music and concert scenes. Is it that you're not allowed to make a movie called "Woodstock" without showing Janis Joplin? This isn't the backstage story of Woodstock. That would probably be an interesting movie, but that's not this movie, and the people who complain about this movie seem to mainly be doing so because they wanted a backstage movie about Woodstock.This movie is the movie it is. Like it or don't, but don't ask that it be an entirely different film.

Given that I was supposed to be at Woodstock, this movie really brings home what it was like to the big screen. I lived in NJ at the time, and the word had filtered down to us that a big concert was going to take place in upstate NY and volunteers were needed. I was 16 years old and emancipated, and had arranged for transport to The Farm. I had worked in my father's medical office since I was about 12, and knew how to take care of injuries, including suturing and casting, if those skills were needed. (Yes, I was mature for my age.) I was literally days away from heading upstate when I was leveled by a serious case of mononucleosis and ended up in hospital. I was SOOOO po'd I can't tell you! But with an enlarged spleen and running temps over 102 degrees, there was no way I was going to Woodstock. :-( Of course, recuperating at my cottage, I watched on the TV the traffic jams and dancing, lovely people...whom I wished most devoutly to be with.This movie is just a delight about the preparations and Elliot's Woody-Allenesque family background, and Eugene Levy is perfect as Max Yasgur (whom I finally met 5 years later).If you're of a certain age (or not!), you'll love this movie. It's a little slice of the innocence prior to the end of the "Summer of Love" at Altamont and the murder of an attendee by a Hell's Angel steroidal amphetamine monster.If you were a parent during the time of Woodstock, perhaps now you will understand just how much this event defined your children's lives, even if they weren't able to attend.It was a good thing: its like will not be seen again. :-(Peace, ya'll.