SummaryWorking as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, Elliot feels empowered by the gay rights movement. But he is also still staked to the family business - a dumpy Catskills motel called the El Monaco that is being run into the ground by his overbearing parents, Jake and Sonia Teichberg. In the summer of 1969, Elliot has to move back upstate to... Read More
Directed By:Ang Lee
Written By:James Schamus, Elliot Tiber, Tom Monte
Taking Woodstock
Metascore
Mixed or Average
55
User score
Generally Favorable
6.5
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
49% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
49% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
75
Lee keeps things afloat with an appealing air of levity, including a fun but restrained use of split-screen, an homage to the 1970 doc, as well as cameos by that movie's Port-O-San guy and its peace-sign-flashing nuns.
75
Taiwanese director Ang Lee sees the '60s through a rose-colored telephoto lens, but his sympathetic spirit extends the generous message of the hippie era like a passed joint.
User score
Generally Favorable
53% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
38% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
9% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Feb 1, 2013
8
A wonderful pleasing film in which the reenactment of the event seems so vivid and accurate. It is entertaining and fun. This movie was never supposed to be just about the music.
Feb 14, 2026
4
Hippies, Gypsies, and a Lack of Thrills140130 (2.0)Hippies, gypsies, freedom, and "Piece"... all the elements of a bohemian spirit were present. However, despite these colorful themes of liberation and peace, the film ultimately failed to be engaging. There was a clear disconnect between its vibrant aesthetic and its ability to hold my interest, leaving me with a cinematic experience that felt hollow and, quite frankly, dull. While the subject matter promised a sense of wonder, the actual execution resulted in a narrative that simply wasn't fun to watch.
67
Somehow Lee fails to make it speak to us. His heart is in the right place, but like many of the crowd that swarmed Yasgur's farm, he has rather lost his head.
60
One man’s near-emotionless trip through an event that was the high watermark for US counterculture moves along without any real sense of purpose or pace.
50
A choppy and occasionally unsure film, one that doesn't achieve the superb tonal control of "The Ice Storm," but that certainly doesn't represent an unqualified disaster on a par with Lee's first attempt at the western, "Ride With the Devil."
50
It's a frustrating complication of a movie with a sprawling story and grand ambitions -- and some truly grand acting -- that stumbles almost as often as it soars. Bummer.
38
Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock achieves an amazing feat: It turns the fabled music festival, a key cultural moment of the late 20th century, into an exceedingly lame, heavily clichéd, thumb-sucking bore.
Sep 1, 2014
2
Blasphemy! Utterly preposterous to create a film revolving around Woodstock 1969 and have absolutely no moments of appreciation for the music. Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock is disrespectful to the greatest era of music by creating this odd-ball look at music's greatest weekend and failing to recognize key necessities.
Production Company:
- Focus Features
Release Date:Aug 26, 2009
Duration:2 h
Rating:R
Tagline:Inspired by a true story. A generation began in his backyard.
Awards
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards
• 4 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
GLAAD Media Awards
• 1 Nomination
