En attendant 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.

Face it, between Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest leaves no doubt, that he alone ,is the greatest mockumentary film maker of all-time. Which film is better? Good luck with that one. Even though I have seen both of them in the past, I just watched both of them again. And could watch them, both,again. Just wanted to add my two cents.

Without exaggeration, I can tell you that I've seen this movie at least 30 times. And I always find something new about it. For instance, in Ron & Sheila's audition with their treatment of "Midnight At The Oasis", it took me about 10 viewings til I noticed that Sheila is mouthing the words to Ron because of his problems remembering his lines.

I really don't know where to begin listing my favorite things about this movie - Ron's "medical reason" for his sole trip outside of Blaine, Dr. Pearl's Carson impressions, Sheila's "less-is-more" acting approach, Corky's tantrums ("I hate you, and I hate your ass face!"), Libba Mae's description of her job at Dairy Queen, councilman Steve Stark admiration for Corky ("GOD, I wish I was in the show"), there is not a wasted moment in this film. It's stupid of me to try to list them here.

The extras on the DVD feature a ton of scenes that weren't in the movie. There's some additional Corky items in his memorabilia collection, including towels from "Hamlet On Ice", alternate epilogues for both Ron & Sheila and also Dr. Pearl, a scene of Corky driving around town telling people they made the cast, a nutty scene of Ron's whiffle-ball reenactment of Bill Mazeroski's famous home-run, dinner at Johnny Savage's house, and extra stuff from the musical - "Nothing Ever Happens In Blaine", "This Bulging River" and also a whacked-out White House scene. But the piece de resistance of the deleted scenes is Libby Mae's other audition piece which is so subtly twisted that you just need to see it yourself.

It's debatable whether this movie is outright cruel in making fun of small townsfolk & community theater types. But the more I watch it and get into it, I think that everybody in the movie has a strong amount of affection for their characters. I don't know; you watch it 30 times and tell me what you think.

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!).

This is the first of several films that Christopher Guest and his friends have made using a very unusual style. Instead of a clearly defined script, some very talented actors (such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard and others) took a script idea and improvised throughout. The film was then created using the best bits and I can honestly say that there is nothing like this film. While some of the jokes are very, very dry and occasionally fall flat, there is a subtle charm and wit to the film as you follow a group of 3rd rate local actors who have insane visions of Broadway.

The film is ostensibly about a very local stage production about the founding of some small town. While these sort of pageants have been ubiquitous in small town America, this one is unique because supposedly a guy by the name of Guffman is coming to town and plans two see it. Guffman, it seems, is from Broadway and the cast has the temerity to believe that maybe they'll impress him so much that they'll become major stars. Considering the quality of the acting is well below that of an average high school production, this is very absurd. Yet, although ridiculous, there is a certain something in many of these people that is very likable so there is some depth to the film--you aren't just laughing at yokels who have ridiculous aspirations.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and think that people who like their humor subtle and perhaps a bit painful will enjoy this film. People who prefer broad comedy probably won't enjoy this very much.