TAKING WOODSTOCK

Your appreciation of “Taking Woodstock,” depends on your being able to view this American cultural event, from the perspective of one rather dysfunctional family.
This massive festival, involving as many as half a million young people, is centered around the role of the Teichberg family in helping get the event located to the town of Woodstock.
The beauty of this film is telling a small story in the middle of a massive event. I have to salute director Ang Lee for making this concept work. The film is not about seeing the show – there are no performances in the entire movie and the main characters don’t see the show they helped create.
This is like a movie about the Titanic sinking, without the ship ever appearing in the film. Imelda Staunton steals the film as the paranoid mother, HENRY GOODMAN is the kind hearted dad, DEMETRI MARTIN is the loyal son. EUGENE LEVY IS FINE AS MAX YASGUR, THE FARMER WHO MADE HIS PROPERTY AVAILABLE FOR THE FESTIVAL STAGE.
LIEV SCHREIBER IS A CROSS DRESSING "SECURITY GUARD AND EMILE HIRSCH IS
A SPACED OUT VIETNAM VETERAN WITH PARANOID DELUSIONS.
THE ACTORS MAKE THIS FILM, SINCE THE MUSICAL PERFORMERS ARE NOT
A PRESENCE IN THIS FILM.
Seeing super cool, hippy entrepreneur, Mike Lang, played by Jonathan Groff, riding around on a stallion, like Sir Lancelot, is almost worth the price of a ticket.
You have to sit back, relax and let this movie unfold or it will be a long two hours.