Esperando o Sr Guffman

Upon watching merely a few minutes of this, I realized it reminded me a lot of "Best in Show," and after doing some research, I was rewarded with the fact that I was correct in assuming this, as both films were directed by Christopher Guest (not to mention that almost the entire principal cast was the same as well). In both films, the real-life actors are interviewed as their characters about certain events/occurrences, which makes them feel as if they are documentaries, and not actual films.

Christopher Guest stars as Corky St. Clair, a Broadway musical director who visits the small town of Blaine (Missouri), and makes plans to put together an original musical in the hopes of attracting the attentions of Broadway producers, and landing himself back on the Great White Way. Corky casts some local townspeople in the show (Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey). O'Hara and Willard play a married couple with years of theater experience under their belts, Levy plays the town dentist, and Posey plays a young Dairy Queen employee (both of them are newcomers to the acting scene).

One of the rather subtle jokes in this film, is the mention of Corky's wife. Throughout the film, some of the other actors mention that they have heard he has a wife, but have never met/seen her. This proves to be a solid joke, as Guest portrays Corky as incredibly flamboyant, and the audience is left to wonder whether Corky really even has a wife, or if she is just a product of his imagination.

I enjoyed this one. I am a fan of basically everyone in the cast; they all are funny in their own ways. I would have to say that I am more familiar with Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy than some of the others, simply because I used to watch them on SCTV, and on their newer TV show, "Schitt's Creek." Also, I would like to add that I would pay money to see their original musical; from what I saw, I enjoyed.

The current climate of cinematic comedy is comparable, to an extent, to the trend in horror: everything is geared toward pull-out-all-stops excess that is more disgusting than entertaining. We should thank our lucky stars for Christopher Guest, a consistently surprising filmmaker (he directed "Best in Show" and wrote "This is Spinal Tap") who makes 'mockumentaries' that play like actual documentaries. "Waiting for Guffman" follows Corky St. Clair (Guest), a flamboyant stage director who gathers a group of 'eclectic' locals (a cross-eyed dentist; a husband-and-wife travel agent team; a Dairy Queen employee) for a production about the sleepy town in which they live (its claim to fame being home of the footstool). There is a hilarious authenticity to the behind-the-scenes footage, but the film never laughs at its subjects--as viewers, we share Corky's (admittedly delusional) passion with bittersweet good humor. The supporting cast--consisting of Guest regulars Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, and Larry Miller--is in top form here. "Waiting for Guffman" is a quiet comedy gem about a dull, quiet town. And it's also ridiculously rated "R" for two quick instances of F-word usage (way to call it, MPAA!).

Waiting for Guffman is one of those too-rare motion pictures that actually lives up to the label of "a comedy". Thirty minutes into Waiting for Guffman, my stomach hurt from laughing. Like some of the most brilliant comedies of recent years such as Clerks Waiting for Guffman reminds us of the true meaning of the term "sidesplitting." And, unlike in many of the movies on my "funniest films" list, there's nothing bizarre or twisted about this humor. The laughs dished out by Waiting for Guffman are universally accessible.

"Ostensibly posing as a documentary interviewing Blaine's manifold townsfolk, from city councilors, UFO experts, to those involved in the musical production, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN is also a jewel of improvisation, the majority of its hilarious lines, dialogue and personal interactions is ad-libbed (though Guest and Eugene Levy nominally take the credits as the scenarists), and delightfully, each member of Guest's stock company is gung-ho to contribute their own laugh lines into the fold, and the entire film is washed with uncynical ironies, from a pair of travel agents who has never ventured out of the town (save for a sexual organ reduction surgery, no less!), to the town's geography-challenged founding father, the much plugged stool manufacture (and those who can perform and utter it with a perfect serious face), not to mention the UFO abduction anecdote, a self-claimed abductee (Dooley) recounts that he has been multiply probed."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

"Waiting for Guffman" (1996): THE FINEST assemblage of straight-faced comedians in all of history, create one of THE funniest movies EVER. "Waiting for Guffman" is about humans with more than enough faith...AND self-delusions. Christopher Guest is the driving force, both in front of and behind the camera, and along with Eugene Levy, portray a small town's population creating a small play about their small history, which is a VERY BIG deal to them. Guest's consistent theme (throughout his films) is about humans who don't have enough insight or talent to spot the lack of it within themselves. There is an incredible blind faith, tenderness and embarrassing, misguided drive within these people. And yet, within their little world, they support the dreams for one another, and move through their lives with solid delusion. "This is Spinal Tap", "Best in Show", and "A Mighty Wind" are other great examples. Guest also has the sense to call back his actors for further projects. This is brilliant work.