Review: 'Taking Woodstock' Single Trip Down Memory Lane

"Taking Woodstock" (R)(out of four)

If the title of Ang Lee's new movie had been "Taking the Sixties," "Taking the Music," or "Taking Altamont" (that memorable Rolling Stones concert is briefly mentioned in the film), maybe there wouldn't have been such high hopes.

But because this is "Taking Woodstock," moviegoers will be sorely disappointed when their expectations are not fully realized.

While the main character, Elliot Teichberg (played by stand-up comic Demitri Martin making his movie debut), is intended to represent the transformative powers the three days of love, peace and music had on a generation, the two-hour story of this one man's coming of age leaves you asking the question: In a film with "Woodstock" in its name, where's the music?

The screenplay by James Schamus is loosely based on a book by Elliot Tiber, the man who gave the original permit to hold a music and arts festival in White Lake, Town of Bethel, in upstate New York.

It was Tiber who suggested the festival be held on the now-famous Max Yasgur's Farm. The film's inner workings of Tiber's relationship with his Jewish immigrant parents, especially his mother, Sonia (a very grating Imelda Staunton), and his constant struggle with trying to keep their failing El Monaco Motel afloat, is what "Taking Woodstock" is all about. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just in this 40th anniversary of Woodstock, it's a shame that the only new film to arrive on the scene centered on the festival is one that doesn't celebrate the music at all.

Schamus's screenplay, as well as Lee's direction, lumbers along, recounting Tiber's struggles and the weekend that was responsible for his awakening. It's also a snapshot of a dying small town where dealing with a concert that could result in an influx of cash is a double-edged sword.

The film features all the colorful characters you'd expect from a slice of life about the '60s: the avant-garde theater group who lives in the family's barn, and is the source for the film's full-frontal nudity -- hilarious and somewhat shocking at first, then a bit overbearing; the stereotypical Vietnam vet who has returned from the war bitter and confused (Emilie Hirsch channeling Tom Cruise?), and a far-out acid trip where Elliot sees swirling colors on the ceiling of a VW van. Trippy, with fun special effects, but not worth the film's five minutes down LSD lane.

Perhaps the most refreshing surprise is actor Liev Schreiber as Vilma, a cross-dressing ex-Marine who joins the Woodstock preparations by becoming security detail at the El Monaco. Schreiber never becomes a caricature of the gender-bending Vilma (an original role for the film), but plays the part with a gentle kindness. Vilma helps Elliot realize that he needs to come to terms with his own homosexuality; thankfully the director doesn't turn the movie into "Brokeback Mountain Meets the Catskills."

The acceptance of Vilma by Elliot's father, Jake (Henry Goodman), is also a nice touch, as is a comical scene where Vilma helps Jake and Sonia break out of their shells by giving them each four brownies laced with pot.

Yet Lee never really gets adventurous with any of it, instead unraveling the story of Tiber's trials and tribulations in a forced effort to re-create one moment in a whirling dervish of a time.

The only step out of the comfort zone is a source of cinematic annoyance. Lee employs an odd split-screen technique to show the whirlwind of activity in the planning of the festival, but it's a rickety wooden rollercoaster ride without the exciting drop. At another point, Lee plays pseudo-documentarian moving the camera's lens to close up and back again, but it fails to create any action.

It's an indicator of the whole of "Taking Woodstock" -- an opportunity missed. There's a running gag throughout the film that with every attempt Elliot makes to actually see the concert, he never really gets there. And even though at the end of the day he feels somehow full from the experience, there's emptiness as well.

Moviegoers will leave the theater feeling the same way.