A love for early-1960s folk music, as well as a parodic willingness to skewer its naïve earnestness, is apparent in Christopher Guest’s mockumentary, but it’s not necessary for a viewer to spot all the in-jokes to enjoy the comedy. The premise reunites a hootenanny’s worth of faux folk acts for a tribute concert in memory of a recently deceased folk producer named Irving Steinbloom. Three of his top acts return for the show after many years of obscurity: male trio The Folksmen, choral group The New Main Street Singers, and romantic duo Mitch & Mickey (long since divorced).
As usual in Guest’s films, the musical parodies are impeccable, but the laughs really come from the clash of personalities among a group of people expending enormous effort to do something massively inconsequential. (In their fringe world, of course, the stakes are monumental, which explains the jealousies and rivalries that look hilariously petty from the outside.) There’s more poignance here than usual, however, largely because of Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara); who wouldn’t pine to see them reunited? They’re obviously so right for each other, or at least so wrong for anyone else.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4xCA4Mb8p4]