TAKING WOODSTOCK — ★★1/2 — Demetri Martin, Imelda Staunton, Liev Schreiber; rated R (profanity, drugs, nudity, slurs, violence, sex, vulgarity); in general release

It's debatable whether the real Woodstock was as messy as "Taking Woodstock," which re-creates parts of that now-legendary 1969 music festival experience.

Among the bigger problems in this comedy-drama: There are at least as many moments that don't work as there are ones that do.

Still, it is an attempt by filmmaker Ang Lee to get back to lighter fare after the deadly serious duo of features "Brokeback Mountain" and "Lust, Caution."

"Woodstock" is based on the real-life experiences of Elliot Tiber (real last name: Teichberg), who was instrumental in securing a venue for the Woodstock Music & Art Festival.

This fictionalized version of events stars Demetri Martin as Tiber, who's first seen trying to manage his parents' rundown motel in the Catskills — in tiny Bethel, N.Y.

Unfortunately, the motel is about to go bankrupt. Unexpected salvation arrives in the form of one of Elliot's old friends, Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff).

Lang and other Woodstock promoters can't find a place to host their event. Elliot suggests moving it to the sprawling dairy farm of another Bethel resident, Max Yasgur (an always welcome Eugene Levy).

As expected, there's opposition from other Bethel residents. And the swelling ranks of festival organizers, performers and attendees may be more than the community can accommodate.

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Comedian Martin may be in his 30s, but he still looks youthful enough to pass for his 20s. However, as far as his acting chops are concerned, he's not the most confident, convincing performer. That's made clear in the film's more dramatic moments, which feel forced and clumsy (particularly sequences that discuss Tiber's homosexuality).

Thankfully, Lee and producer/screenwriter James Schamus surround him with a stellar supporting ensemble. That includes Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman as Elliot's parents, Liev Schreiber as a cross-dressing ex-Navy man, Emile Hirsch as a shell-shocked Vietnam war veteran and Richard Thomas as a hippie holy man.

"Taking Woodstock" is rated R and features strong sexual language (profanity and other suggestive references), drug content and references (various hallucinogenics), full female and male nudity, derogatory language and slurs, violent content (war imagery, rioting and a brief scuffle), simulated sex and other sexual contact (both gay and straight, mostly implied), and other off-color references and jokes. Running time: 110 minutes.

e-mail: jeff@desnews.com

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