Movie Review: Air Guitar Nation Is Hilarious And Fun
Air Guitar Nation is yet another "Spellbound formula" doc, this time, centering around two determined contestants, following their journey to the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland (who knew that even existed?). I don't know about anyone else, but even after seeing so many of these films, I still haven't gotten tired of the format. Air Guitar Nation is a fun, hilarious, and interesting film that plays along to a musically diverse and rockin' soundtrack with tracks from the likes of Motorhead, Cheap Trick, and David Bowie.
The greatest thing about this film is the fact that director Alexandra Lipsitz was able to seamlessly provide a great mix of serious moments with the humorous ones. The audience is able to laugh at the characters, while laughing with them at the same time. In one of my favorite scenes, the contestants attend a high altitude Air Guitar Training Camp, where athletes do exercises, learn stretching techniques, and even take classes on maintaining your instrument, and how to deal with groupies. Throughout these laughable moments, viewers learn to connect with the main characters, and are left rooting for them as they compete in the U.S. Championships, and then move on to battle international contestants in the World Champs.
David Jung, who goes by the stage name "C-Diddy", really stood out for me in this film. Lipsitz made a perfect choice by incorporating Jung's Asian heritage into the film, interviewing his parents about their hopes and expectations for their son, and showing their reactions to the fact that their son wanted to be an actor and comedian. Jung, with his air guitar, was able to break Asian stereotypes for the audience, by making them laugh (without making Asians look like fools, as American Idol's William Hung did), and build bridges with his traditional Korean parents. Even if it sounds funny, watching it did not make me want to laugh, it was serious and inspirational, and seemed to show that air guitar, no matter how silly and seemingly meaningless, can change people's racial and social attitudes. While the social connection was executed perfectly, Lipsitz tries to make the same connections with the political attitudes of people, which I felt was the only downside of the film. The film tries to convey that air guitar can be the solution to world peace, which seemed like too much of a stretch to me.
Overall, Air Guitar Nation is an entertaining and informational film that helps the audience to see the world a little differently through the sport of Air Guitar. It had a higher than expected production value, and was a fun and enjoyable film.
Overall, Air Guitar Nation is an entertaining and informational film that helps the audience to see the world a little differently through the sport of Air Guitar. It had a higher than expected production value, and was a fun and enjoyable film.
/Film Rating: 9 out of 10