Review of Taking Woodstock (2009) by Matt B — 15 Jul 2010

Was Ang Lee on acid when he cast Demetri Martin to play the lead in such a cultural-beloved story?

For a movie about the most well-known and celebrated music festival the world has ever seen, music took a back seat. People will look back on Lee's triumphs and will not think twice about this movie. It is his first real hiccup and doesn't have much of his prints on it at all.

The major topic of this film is the casting of young comedian Martin, who in his first ever big role did an OK job. But, in a Lee film you expect much more from the most important actor in the movie. I have no idea why Lee cast Martin, but it wasn't the worst thing he did with Taking Woodstock.

Another problem in Taking Woodstock was the editing, Lee took too long to get to the trippy-esque monumental event. The first hour of the film is very dull and you spend half of it deciding whether or not you like Martin as a mainstream actor. Martin is very distracting and that takes away from some of the good things in this film.

When we do finally get to see some of the actual event, it's very trippy indeed. Unfortunately, it's through the eyes of a person who never makes it to the stage.

The other casting of this film really shined, Schreiber and Hirsch gripped the viewers whenever they were on the screen, unfortunately, they don't get much face time.

I hope Ang Lee swallows this effort and quickly gets right back in the game with a much-better movie all-around. And hopefully he learns from his casting mistake.