En attendant Guffman

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.

"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.

Waiting for Guffman is hilarious and it still holds up after several repeat viewings. The characters are all incredibly funny, the actors playing them are perfectly cast and incredible in their (hilarious) roles, and the script is simple but so very entertaining. It also has heart and you feel for the characters, but mostly it's just plain funny. I'd say it's not quite as funny as Spinal Tap but it's a better movie, if that makes sense. More heart and drama. I highly recommend this movie (and Spinal Tap too).

I'm not sure why I waited to so long to see this film as I've known about it for quite some time now, but it was purely delightful. I spent the weekend catching up on my Christopher Guest films, and watched `A Mighty Wind' then `Best in Show' and saved Guffman for last. While I still thought `A Mighty Wind' was better, (in the same way that Sprite is better than 7-Up… there's really no difference, just maybe an iota of something indescribable that is better) `Waiting for Guffman' is still huddled in there with `Best in Show' as a fantastic film.

One thing that I noticed about `Guffman' over the others is that while all of his films have a little heart to them, this film had just a little bit more. I can also see that Guest, while having more of an acting role in this film, went on to lessen his roles substantially, but he really is a good actor. All of the actors show immense versatility, (especially Catherine O'Hara, whose hair in this film made me laugh constantly) but Guest actually surprised me. The fact that the films are primarily ad-libbed is most impressive in `Guffman' in my opinion, and the direction, while very subtle in all of the films, does not rely on editing to lead (or sometimes, create) a gag as much as his later films do.

All of Guest's films are fairly short (clocking in at 90 minutes or less) so I would suggest that if you haven't seen any or all of his mockumentaries, to just schedule a film festival with some friends and watch them in order. It's fun to compare them, and to watch the same actors take on different personas, and `Waiting for Guffman' is a strong and hilarious piece of work.

--Shelly

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.