Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock (2009)

  • 48% of critics liked it
    (176 reviews)

  • 47% of users liked it
    (250,053 ratings)

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee tells the story of the Greenwich Village interior designer who inadvertently helped to spark a cultural revolution by offering the organizers of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival boarding at his family's Catskills motel. The year is 1969. Change is brewing… More

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R, 2 hr. 1 min.
Directed By
Ang Lee
Written By
James Schamus
Genres
Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy
In Theaters
Aug 28, 2009 Wide
On DVD
Dec 15, 2009
Focus Features

Critic Reviews

  • Joe Baltake, Passionate Moviegoer

    Ang Lee's companionable 'Taking Woodstock' is thick with sun and good cheer.

  • Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

    Too much of Taking Woodstock seems barely sketched out.

  • Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

    It's harmless enough as a snapshot of a young man's awakening to the grand possibilities of adult life, but not particularly effective at capturing the spirit, the thrill or even the mud of this culturally monumental event.

  • Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

    This is very light material, and, unusually for a Lee picture, not everybody in the ensemble appears to be acting in the same universe, let alone the same story. On the other hand: It's fun.

  • Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

    Taking Woodstock has the appeal of an inside story told from an especially good angle. But beyond that, the movie is a celebration of the way this event has gone into memory and of the meaning it has acquired.

Read all 24 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Lucas M


    Taking Woodstock start interesting, but went the film begings to show the festival, Woodstock stay disagreeably sweet and presents a not so good screenplay, featuring some cliches. Don't focus really on the festival, showing just the making off. Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock is… More

  • Mark W


    I'm starting to lose count on the amount of times director Ang Lee has tackled a new genre. He's done martial arts; comic-book; thriller; romance; family drama; westerns and literary adaptation. Now? Well now, he's tackles the story of how the legendary music festival… More

  • Carlos M


    Lee's film manages to capture the groovy vibe of the famous festival, although it doesn't quite develop the protagonist very well and isn't much revealing about the musical magic of Woodstock itself. The result is enjoyable yet rather underwhelming.

  • Chris W


    I'll be honest, any movie involving the culture, arts, and music of the 60s is something I'm interested in. Shockingly enough, I've never actually seen the Woodstock concert film in its entirety, but I like the fact that this movie doesn't have any concert footage,… More

  • Megan S


    I think this was an enjoyable movie but I don't think I'd watch it again. It was really long and I was getting a little over it by the end.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Cast

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