Review of Taking Woodstock (2009) by Joshua B — 08 May 2010

A decent film from Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain", the 2003 "Hulk" aka the bad one without Edward Norton) about the first Woodstock. Lee is a great director but there are portions of this film that are just flat and there are sequences that feel out of place.

This film has an impressive cast led by Demetri Martin ("Important Things"). Martin does okay in this leading role, but I would much rather watch him do comedy. The film also has Eugene Levy ("American Pie" series), Emile Hirsch ("The Girl Next Door", "Speed Racer"), and Liev Schreiber ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine", "Repo Men"). Schreiber gives the best performance of this cast. Hirsch and Levy are pretty good too.

The film does a decent job of recreating the era, at least how I perceive the time period. I do think it's a little ironic that this film is about a huge music festival and we don't ever see any of the bands on stage. This is because Martin's character is trying to manage the masses of people that have descended upon this small town and also trying to manage his parents.

Personally, I like "Almost Famous" much more than this. 3/5 stars. (5/9/10).