MOVIE REVIEW:
In short: Well, at least the poster's cool.
Ang Lee, the brilliant director of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "The Ice Storm", and "Brokeback Mountain" heads to upstate New York to tackle a story about one of the world's biggest musical events in history. Or so I thought. "Taking Woodstock" is instead a movie that wastes almost every opportunity to be interesting, and instead tells a dull story about dull people living on the outskirts of the Woodstock concert event of 1969. I will tell you this up front: there is not a single concert scene on the Woodstock stage. If you know that Woodstock was a concert where thousands upon thousands of hippies flocked to hear a great line-up of music, than this film will teach you nothing new about the event. One of my favorite comedians, Demetri Martin, proved that he could act in addition to his night job, but the script squanders his talent, along with the talent of everyone else involved. There is a great story to be told about these people, but Ang Lee must have fittingly been on something when he agreed to make this garbage hit the silver screen. When the movie ends, if you stay through the whole thing (four people walked out at my screening), you'll be left scratching your head. There are three storylines or plot elements that are unresolved...I won't explain them in detail as not to spoil it if you still decide to brave it, but doing so would be sadistic. I would highly suggest NOT seeing this movie, as it will bore and frustrate you.
Ang Lee, the brilliant director of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "The Ice Storm", and "Brokeback Mountain" heads to upstate New York to tackle a story about one of the world's biggest musical events in history. Or so I thought. "Taking Woodstock" is instead a movie that wastes almost every opportunity to be interesting, and instead tells a dull story about dull people living on the outskirts of the Woodstock concert event of 1969. I will tell you this up front: there is not a single concert scene on the Woodstock stage. If you know that Woodstock was a concert where thousands upon thousands of hippies flocked to hear a great line-up of music, than this film will teach you nothing new about the event. One of my favorite comedians, Demetri Martin, proved that he could act in addition to his night job, but the script squanders his talent, along with the talent of everyone else involved. There is a great story to be told about these people, but Ang Lee must have fittingly been on something when he agreed to make this garbage hit the silver screen. When the movie ends, if you stay through the whole thing (four people walked out at my screening), you'll be left scratching your head. There are three storylines or plot elements that are unresolved...I won't explain them in detail as not to spoil it if you still decide to brave it, but doing so would be sadistic. I would highly suggest NOT seeing this movie, as it will bore and frustrate you.
* 1/2 out of * * * *.
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