Ang Lee's clumsy adaptation of Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte's book "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life" can't decide whether it wants to be a comedy, a drama, or merely a slice-of-life reflection on a small town community transformed by the titular cultural happening in 1969.
Demetri Martin steps lightly around his closeted gay Jewish character, Elliot Teichberg, a young man who lives with his parents at their ramshackle "El Monaco" motel in the Catskills.
Determined to protect his parents from imminent bankruptcy, Elliot seeks out music producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) after hearing that an adjacent town has lost its permit to host Lang's music and arts festival.
Biting off considerably more than he, his parents, and his community can chew isn't as much of a problem for Elliot as a mild storm to be weathered so that he can grow into the person he needs to become.
Imelda Staunton carries out some great character work as Elliot's domineering mother Sonia, but her efforts are as unrewarded by the material, as are underdeveloped secondary roles sketched admirably by Emile Hirsch and Liev Schreiber.
Unforgivable is the film's neglect of the musical element that any movie about Woodstock should necessarily include. There are flashes of inspiration here but nothing to sustain a feature film's worth of narrative import.
(Focus Features) Rated R. 120 mins.
