When I saw the previews... I went in expecting a laugh riot... but I was wrong... it was funny... but not that funny... the premise was good... but it seems to lack that definitive spark... I guess it was because they foisted too much of the weight of the story onto one character...
Stars: Noteworthy names only include Liev Schriber and Henry Goodman(The Merchant of Venice)...
Plot: (Ripoff from IMDB) Its 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in
Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his
parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, The El Monaco. The banks
about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasnt
paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his
parents.
When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled
the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking
he could drum up some much-needed business for the motel. Three weeks
later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbors farm in
White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a
generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American
culture, forever...
Anyway... the initial portion of the movie is funny... there is more involvement and interaction with other characters... Elliots poverty and his schemes to deal with it give rise to much of the humor... as we move on towards the middle, Schriber and Goodman (who plays Jake, Elliots father) provide some heartwarming scenes... but towards the end the movie falls out as a damp squib... much of the focus is on Elliot as he wanders about the concert grounds in a drug induced high/stupor... sure we get to see bits and pieces of American culture of the time, but thats about it... it really does not seem to do anything for the movie as a whole... I guess that it is sorta significant that the guy who helped host Woodstock (Shoot... cant say that... spoiler...)... but really they could have done many things different, better... drugs were part of the culture, as was Vietnam... but this movie makes it appear that the Hippie culture was only about drugs...
I will give this one a 6.5/10, please note that my rating is not entirely objective because my expectations were raised a little too high by the previews...
Stars: Noteworthy names only include Liev Schriber and Henry Goodman(The Merchant of Venice)...
Plot: (Ripoff from IMDB) Its 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in
Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his
parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, The El Monaco. The banks
about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasnt
paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his
parents.
When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled
the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking
he could drum up some much-needed business for the motel. Three weeks
later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbors farm in
White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a
generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American
culture, forever...
Anyway... the initial portion of the movie is funny... there is more involvement and interaction with other characters... Elliots poverty and his schemes to deal with it give rise to much of the humor... as we move on towards the middle, Schriber and Goodman (who plays Jake, Elliots father) provide some heartwarming scenes... but towards the end the movie falls out as a damp squib... much of the focus is on Elliot as he wanders about the concert grounds in a drug induced high/stupor... sure we get to see bits and pieces of American culture of the time, but thats about it... it really does not seem to do anything for the movie as a whole... I guess that it is sorta significant that the guy who helped host Woodstock (Shoot... cant say that... spoiler...)... but really they could have done many things different, better... drugs were part of the culture, as was Vietnam... but this movie makes it appear that the Hippie culture was only about drugs...
I will give this one a 6.5/10, please note that my rating is not entirely objective because my expectations were raised a little too high by the previews...