“Taking Woodstock” is a period flick set in the summer of 1969 directed by Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”) and starring comedian-turned-actor Demetri Martin as Elliot Teichberg. Elliot is a fairly well-to-do artist in New York City that has taken the bulk of his earnings and sunk it into his parents roadside motel in a small town in the Catskills. Every year Elliot throws a music and entertainment festival to help boost the local economy, of which he sits as the president of the local chamber of commerce. Upon hearing that a neighboring town canceled the permit of their much larger music festival, Elliot gets in contact with the promoters and gets them to agree to have the festival there instead. What results is what is festival known as Woodstock.

The performances in this movie are great all around. Demetri Martin plays a great Elliot, and is helped along by a bevy of guest stars including Paul Dano, Emile Hirsch, Dan Fogler, Liev Schreiber as the transvestite security guard Vilma, and Eugene Levy. While the performances in this movie are top notch, the direction and editing on this film sadly are not. The movie plods around the entire time trying to find itself, much like the main character who struggles trying to come out of the closet. Ang Lee’s editor on this movie is the same one he used when he made “Hulk”, which is apparent because the editing style is very similar and just as distracting, and in a movie like this doesn’t really even make sense.

While some detractors may slam this movie for it’s lack of footage of the actual festival, I tend to disagree with them to that end and instead offer that this movie isn’t about the music, it’s about the people. Having the actual concert as a character in this movie would only serve to convolute the plot further and weigh down a story that seemed to go on forever as it is.