A Mighty Wind (2003)

With For Your Consideration, Guest returns to the ground he previously covered with The Big Picture. Likewise, A Mighty Wind has him digging back into the world of music, only this time, he’s picked a genre as far away from the metal sound of Spinal Tap as possible: folk music. The results are similarly spectacular, as Guest’s fake-documentary crew captures the proceedings leading up to a tribute concert honoring a recently deceased folk-music promoter. Since the cast is studded with familiar faces (Levy, O’Hara, McKean, Shearer, Posey) and, again, the approach is almost identical to Guest’s previous films, you would expect A Mighty Wind to finally show some chinks in the director’s armor. But it’s to his credit that even though he has a formula, it never feels like one, not as soon as the film starts. That is, arguably, the reason people keep coming back for Guest’s films; they’re comfortingly familiar and bracingly fresh at the same time. His films are like identically wrapped birthday presents, each holding a different treasure inside. Oh, and one other reason people keep coming back to Guest’s work: It’s always hilarious.