Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) is determined to help his struggling parents out when their hotel faces closure due to lack of finances. Deciding to hold a small music festival, Elliot faces opposition from the locals but forms a partnership with farm owner Max (Eugene Levy). As plans evolve, Elliot is completely unaware that the concert he has inadvertently set in motion is going to become the historic Woodstock.
Based on a true story, Taking Woodstock was supposed to capture the fun, energy and vibe that surrounded the iconic music festival. On its theatrical release the film received lukewarm reviews and made just over $9 million at the world box office making a significant loss on its $30 million budget. Directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee, the film was expected to be another triumph for the Brokeback Mountain director but many considered it to be his first real failure.
Taking Woodstock is a peculiar film. With a cast brimming with star names, it falls into the trap of being more like ‘spot the star’ than an actual movie. Over the film’s two-hour running time Imelda Staunton, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano, Emile Hirsch, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kelli Garner and Eugene Levy all appear. Often films of this variety fail due to the lack of screentime given to each star. In the case of Taking Woodstock the movie fails due to its lack of a compelling story. Despite factual errors, the movie never really draws you in and there isn’t a particularly strong central focus.
The star of the film is without a doubt comedian Demetri Martin. Martin manages to pull off the role of Elliot despite being considerably older than him in reality (Martin is now 36). He is the one character you feel you can root for and his presence on-screen is very enjoyable. Unfortunately his character is never fully fleshed out so various things that he does are given no real explanation – in one scene he is seen to kiss a girl and then a guy (which he goes back for seconds) but nothing more about his sexuality or personal life is really revealed. Imelda Staunton is also fantastic onscreen as Elliot’s loopy mother. Staunton always proves to be a highlight of any movie and this one is certainly no exception.
Extras on the disc include deleted scenes, a featurette (Peace, Love and Cinema), a feature commentary with director Ang Lee and writer James Schamus and behind-the-scenes footage (No Audience Required: The Earthlight Players).
Taking Woodstock is a watchable but not exactly amazing movie. You can happily pass two hours in front of your TV watching it but you’re unlikely to remember a great deal about it once it’s finished. If the story had been stronger and the celebrity faces scaled back then we may have enjoyed it more. As it stands the film isn’t likely to reverse its fortunes on DVD.
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