The last few months have been hectic, and free time is something that I “spend” very carefully. This is why I refused to attend several premieres that didn’t catch my interest. When the invitation for A MIGHTY WIND arrived, the name meant nothing to me and I almost put it aside. Suddenly it hit me — this was a film by Christopher Guest, the man who is responsible for such masterpieces as THIS IS SPINAL TAP, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, and BEST IN SHOW. Since I loved all of these films, it was unthinkable to not go, so I made the call and, on April 14, made my way to the Director’s Guild Theater.

The crowds of fans were in full attendance when I arrived, standing on the side of the red carpet screaming at their heroes as they walked by. As the god of timing would have it, I stepped on the carpet at exactly the same moment Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, and the rest of their entourage poured out of their limos, enveloping me in their group as we fought our way past the hysterical multitudes, stepped into the theater, walked through the metal detectors, and finally took our seats.

As the guests slowly filed in, and as hundreds of Hollywood denizens schmoozed and oozed on each other, I quietly wondered how anything could equal Christopher Guest’s brilliant, endlessly funny, BEST IN SHOW (If you haven’t seen it, run, don’t walk, to the nearest video store and rent it. You’re in for a real treat.). The waiting continued, a loop of songs from the movie was played (a silly thing to do since it effectively ended any surprise the songs might have offered if heard for the first time), and — since the movie was about folk music — my mind, overwhelmed by rap and the vacuous lyrics of many modern day singers, raced back in time in an effort to remember.

“Please!” I screamed internally, “Give me a name of a folk singer.” The memory of Burl Ives hit me right between the eyes and a feeling of nausea overwhelmed me. Then, threatened by shock, other names came to the rescue, reminding me of a kind of music that we all enjoyed, even if we weren’t aware of it: The Weavers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, early Dylan, and Peter, Paul, & Mary. Suddenly in a maudlin mood, the movie finally began to raucous applause and I sat back, pushed my 60s’ recollections aside, and let Guest do his thing.

Christopher Guest’s films tend to be mock documentaries (mockumentaries) about subjects you wouldn’t expect to be funny. A MIGHTY WIND continued that tradition, this time turning the camera’s eye to the subject of folk music. However, unlike previous films where he made ruthless fun of his characters, this time he falls in love with his constructs, losing his edge in the process and giving us “gentle comedy” — still good, but also losing that extra something that a hammer blow to the head would impart.

Following his usual (very successful!) formula, A MIGHTY WIND is a “documentary” about three old and almost forgotten folk groups who are asked to reunite in a memorial concert after a famous folk promoter dies. The groups are The New Main Street Singers (The New Christy Minstrels immediately come to mind), Mitch and Mickey, and The Folksmen (Guest, McKean, and Shearer). Great performances abound: Bob Balaban is wonderful as the dead promoter’s highly neurotic son, Ed Begley Jr. is excellent as a Yiddish speaking Swedish-American TV executive, and all the group members shine.

Though ostensibly about once-famous groups getting together for one last hurrah, much of the film is wrapped around a minor drama: Mickey (Catherine O’Hara), now married to a manufacturer of bladder control equipment, must reunite with her old flame and partner Mitch (Eugene Levy), even though she broke his heart, sent him to a mental institution, and left him to rot for two decades. And rot he did — Mitch is now completely insane and the audience is left wondering if he’s able to perform and live up to the expectations of his old fans.

As mentioned earlier, A MIGHTY WIND doesn’t quite compare to the perfect BEST IN SHOW, but what does? Nevertheless, it still offers far more laughs than most comedies could dream of and, like all Guest films, it forces us to think about the absurdity of the human condition.

After the movie ended I had to admit that I’d enjoyed myself immensely. I walked into the lobby, surveyed the food and dessert tables, and watched the films’ stars get the congratulations they deserved. An excellent flick, good food, sharing the moment with lots of creative people — not a bad way to spend an evening.