Review of Taking Woodstock (2009) by Angel J — 01 Dec 2010

In 1969, Sonia(Imelda Staunton) and Jake Teichberg(Henry Goodman) are in danger of losing their run down motel in the Catskills to foreclosure when their dutiful son Elliot(Demetri Martin), an artist and designer by trade, persuades the bank to give them a couple of more months, without having to surrender another painting. They are not the only ones in the family to suffer from money problems as Elliot's sister is evicted from her New York City apartment. However, salvation arrives when a Wallkill music festival is forced out. As President of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce, Elliot gives them a permit and a new home at the farm of Max Yasgur(Eugene Levy), maker of the best chocolate milk in the area, which makes Mike(Jonathan Groff), a concert organizer and friend of Elliot's from Bensonhurst, very happy.

What's especially disappointing about "Taking Woodstock" is not its comic and light tone, but in that it treats its material very broadly, with a tip of the hat to the concert documentary, which is very uncharacteristic for director Ang Lee and writer James Schamus.(I guess this is what you get when you cast Eugene Levy.) On display are all the cliches of the era including silly hippies, shell-shocked long-haired veterans and cheap immigrant parents. By contrast, the movie does show glimpses of a darker view of the time and place with the odd juxtaposition of reactionary residents and Jewish summer visitors. But strangely enough, the movie finally finds its voice once Liev Schreiber shows up wearing a dress and turns into a tale of awakening, told from Eliot's point of view. The movie handles history well, subtly referencing the Stonewall Riots, showing that nobody then could possibly have an idea that they would have a bigger effect than the Woodstock concert and the moon landing. But the movie also unwisely foreshadows twice, once about bottled water and the other time about how lucky everybody might have gotten over those three days in August 1969.