Z/Web

Another mockumentary from the folks who brought us Spinal Tap and Best in Show. This is another success, this time about folk music from the 1950’s. It’s hilarious. The “plot” is about a modern day reunion show of several folk groups, but we get to see plenty of grainy black-and-white video clips and photographs of the original performances. Great stuff. There are two problems with this movie. One, these mockumentaries are done with such conviction, it’s hard to tell when they are being funny. The humor is occasionally of the outrageous “ha ha” variety, but much of the time it’s more subtle, making you unsure if you heard right or if you’re supposed to laugh. A perfect example is the scene were the goody-goody wife of the New Mainstreet Singers is telling about her past and how she started out in San Francisco doing some “short films,” and as she continues we gradually realize she’s saying she was a porn star! Hilarious. Another problem with this movie is that the folk songs are too good. They are too real. Maybe they are real, I don’t know, but they’re actually quite good songs, and that takes some of the sting out of the parody. It’s like when someone tries to do a sketch about singing badly and then sings well: it kills the humor. Not a terrible flaw, but it’s more difficult to see the funniness in the songs. Overall, a great film, though. Lots of fun.