The new Mumford & Sons video enlists four actors as stand-ins for the band members, and in the process proves the British folk rockers have a great sense of humor.
In the video for "Hopeless Wanderer," which was released on Sunday and quickly went viral, comic actors Ed Helms, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte sport the necessary facial hair and old-timey clothes to pull off the routine.
It all opens calmly enough, with the sun's glare and a muted color palette obscuring who might actually be performing. It's totally plausible that Mumford & Sons would be the stars of this show. Until the one-minute mark, when it's revealed that lip-syncing along to the words from the song off the Grammy winning album "Babel," is the aforementioned comedic quartet, heavily laden with stringed instruments.
The four do a convincing enough job of pretending to play things such as the piano, guitar, banjo, stand-up bass, and accordion. Not that there isn't a decent amount of foolery; Sudeikis, as lead singer Marcus Mumford, struggles to play guitar while carrying a bass drum on his back; the four also squeeze into a tiny boat while playing in the middle of a pond.
The emotion of it all starts to peak as tears are shed (and tasted) and kisses are exchanged. But there are still beers to to cheer and instruments to bust up in a barn-burning finale highlighted by Bateman's banjo picking and Forte's bass ... well, just watch.