By Scott Muoio

Tedious, boring, and poorly put together 2009’s Taking Woodstock is a bad trip. The film tells the story of a small town teenager in 1969 who becomes the president of his local chamber of commerce only to invite 100,000 hippies to the biggest concert ever: Woodstock. Goofiness ensues as hippie stereotypes streak, smoke, blather, and I suppose eventually charm many of the local folk. Of course, there are the haters, those townsfolk nit-wits bent on keeping the sleepy town’s character as is through mean spirited attacks. But really, who cares? Hippies have always been ridiculous and boring and so is this movie.

Director Ang Lee tries to ape the original concert documentary with bad cinematography, lousy split screen effects, and lots of bad acting. In that sense, he succeeds. But who wants to watch this drivel? Taking Woodstock isn’t about finding yourself, being free, or even getting some laughs. Instead it is an exercise in the inane, a movie without an audience and a boring waste of time even if you’re already wasted. South Park’s Cartman said it best: “Hippies… they say they want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.” Right on, brother.

Director: Ang Lee

Producer: Ang Lee, James Schamus

Writer: James Schamus, Elliot Tiber (Book), Tom Monte (Book)

Starring: Demetri Martin, Imelda Staunton, Henry Goodman, Live Schreiber, Jonathan Groff, Eugene Levy, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano

Original Music: Danny Elfman

Cinematographer: Eric Gautier

Editor: Tim Squyres