OMG, I saw it this weekend, and I am ready to go see it again. It is wonderful!!!!
Where to start, THE PARENTS! OMG, Imelda Staunton as Sonia Teichberg, give this woman an OSCAR! She is amazing. You see her and it is real, she is the real deal. Henry Goodman as Jake Teichberg is amazing too, but with his character being married to Sonia, he does not get to talk as much. When he goes after the mob with a baseball bat you want to stand up and cheer.
Another thing I liked was that all the actors looked different enough that you could keep up with them. I hate it when movies are full of beautiful people. These people are by an large so average looking it is wonderful. When Eugene Levy apprears as Max Yasgur, you know it is him. And the Earthlight Players, whipping off their frocks and dancing nekkid as the helicopter descends at the motel for the first time, it is like "welcome to fairy land!"
Dmetri Martin as Elliott Teichberg is perfect. He is just a lovely, serious gay nerd you want to give a big hug too. Here he is with the herculean task of saving his parents motel and his town and fate provides his with a answer, an answer that will change everything. The whole thing is well balanced and told like a tale of transcendence and redemption, Vilma the pistol packing transvestite arriving out of nowhere to maintain order, Billy, the Vietnam Vet childhood friend of Elliott's who finally recognizes he is home.
But the best part, aside from Elliott and the construction worker kissing on the dance floor, is when the parents get into the Hash Brownies. The whole theater was laughing their heads off at those two, dancing in the rain the dances from the old country, the gut splitting laughter pouring out of them like it had never before. That was my favorite part.
So many good lines in the movie, the girlfriend of the promoter who wore the hat, saying something like "everybody's perspective, it gets in the way of the love..." The draft cards being burned, the bras being burned. It was like evidence of a great exhale on the part of humanity, a moment when a hundred years of pretence was dropped and everyone just looked at each other, really looked at each other for the first time in their lives.
You got to see this movie. You just got to.