Mighty Wind, A

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The picture gently caricatures the folk music scene with dozens of delicate brush strokes, creating a picture that's increasingly, gloriously funny -- as in entire lines of dialogue are lost because the audience's laughing so hard.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Another unforetold career acme: Christopher Guest's seductive and brilliantly modulatory A Mighty Wind, which trains its laser-sight on the decaying legacy of Peter, Paul and Mary-style pop-folk.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A movie that re-creates its object of satire with such pitch-perfect flair that it all but erases the line between derision and love.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Mr. Guest and Mr. Levy's jokes are sometimes so subtle as to seem imperceptible, until you realize that they are everywhere, from the broadest gestures to the tiniest details of dress and décor.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The triumph of A Mighty Wind is that it makes an audience love the sing-along catchiness of folk and still break up at its banalities. This tiny titan of a movie is a perfect melding of form and content.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

There are no sacred cows in A Mighty Wind. Even beloved public television is skewered by Guest and Co. In a lot of ways, this movie pokes the most fun at the average PBS liberal who refuses to let go of the 1960s.

Time Richard Corliss

The sweetest and funniest of Guest's true-life fake-umentaries.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

The jokes would be funny even if they weren't perfectly timed, but what makes them come across as so poignant is the seriousness with which the director and his co-conspirators deliver their jabs and japes.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Achingly funny movie...Guest has cultivated a stock company of players whose work together is so intuitively sharp that it seems to redefine the boundaries of acting.

Slate David Edelstein

Almost to a one, the people Guest casts are virtuosos, and he lets them hit notes they can't hit anywhere else.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Guest has proven to be this era's master of humanist satire.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

It's a fine-grained picture that goes for the sideways laughs rather than the straight-ahead ones. This is sketch comedy as method acting.

The New Yorker David Denby

A new kind of affectionate satire which is all but indistinguishable from an embrace. [5 May 2003, p. 104]

Washington Post Desson Thomson

There's an extra dimension here, not present in the other comedies. Not only is the material amusing, it's charmingly engaging.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

More of a warm breeze than a great gust, but its simple, smart pleasures carry the force of a hurricane.

USA Today Mike Clark

Like the first half of "Best in Show," the movie is so deadpan that sometimes you have to pinch yourself to realize how potently satirical it is.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

I've seen A Mighty Wind only twice so far. Maybe it is less fresh than "Guffman," more strained than "Best in Show." Who cares? It's still a gift from comedy heaven.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Quick and charming and irresistible.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

It's more strangely and elementally touching than its predecessors.

Empire Kim Newman

Improv comedy at its best: subtle, hilarious, excruciating and affecting in equal measure.

Variety David Rooney

The gifted repertory company again creates an amusing gallery of incisively observed characters, riffing off each other with enjoyment levels that frequently prove contagious.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The film's heart and soul belong to O'Hara and to Levy, whose folk-music burnout has the shell-shocked expression of someone who's been to hell and never quite made it back.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

I laughed myself silly through most of A Mighty Wind, and was pleasantly surprised when it took a turn toward genuine feeling near the end.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

While the unfortunate epilogue strains the naturalism of what's gone on before and leaves a bit of a sour taste, this semi-improvisational comedy otherwise reaches Balzacian brilliance.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

Freshened immensely by pitch-perfect song parodies, a batch of hilarious faux album covers, nimble improv from the ever-marvelous cast, and a palpable love for the subject matter.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The parody would be more memorable if it satirized a broader section of the folk-music scene instead of limiting itself to commercialized acts of the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary ilk. But it is as accurate as it is funny.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

When it comes to mockumentary parodies, no one does it better than Christopher Guest.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The voice that jerks out from Levy's throat suggests Lazarus waking from the dead.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It's churlish, especially these days, to try to split the difference between an immortal comedy classic and a mere laugh riot.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It mocks folk musicians of the 1960s, who could sometimes be full of hot air. It also acknowledges that protests 40 years ago, often spearheaded by bards and balladeers, blew much-needed fresh air into post-Eisenhower society.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

There’s much to enjoy, even if the funny bits don’t add up to Spinal Tap greatness. And the titular anthem, performed in a star-studded closing jamboree, has a wickedly funny payoff.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The tweaking here feels affectionate, yet you soon suspect that these subjects make for awfully easy pickings.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The edge is missing from Guest's usual style. Maybe it's because his targets are, after all, so harmless.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Full of redeeming throwaways.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Funnier than his criticism of egos on the rampage is Guest's rare talent for double-edged satire that tweaks one convention by means of another.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Half-funny mockumentary.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

The songs are actually quite good--if also hideously embarrassing--but these comedians take their roles far too seriously, to their peril and our puzzlement.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Details like period fashion and album covers are handled flawlessly. It's the big stuff that falls short of the standard set by this troupe. A Mighty Wind is good for an occasional laugh but you're not likely to be blown away.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The wheezy Mighty Wind can't blow out the candle of this group's first musical mockumentary, 1984's "This Is Spinal Tap."