Taking Woodstock
Director: Ang Lee
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 1.0
Yawn, a hippies versus the squares movie - there are those that 'get it' (because they're free, man) and those that don't (and there's little room in between). Lee and screenwriter James Schamus toss out this behind-the-scenes story about Elliot Tiber (played by comedian Demetri Martin, who always seems like he's in a staring contest with an invisible opponent) who was one of the key figures in making the drugs & hugs festival Woodstock Music & Art Fair happen in 1969 ... not to mention all those nasty, awful looks he got from the conservative, worried locals for arranging for those naked, dirty people to come to town (not to mention bringing prosperity to his immigrant parents' slummy hotel). It doesn't have the emotional resonance of the notable Wadleigh documentary or even that proto-hippie cult classic Dazed and Confused, and Martin's character's supposed 'transformation' courtesy of acid and sitars doesn't come through.
