Waiting For Guffman (R) *** Starring Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy Directed by Christopher Guest A Review by Frankie Paiva
The often confused genre of mockumentary, basically a scripted documentary is often not understood by every Hollywood director. The concept of having interviews with the characters, but forgetting not to give big glamour shots and regular filmed footage has often been forgotten in films like Drop Dead Gorgeous. But this is a fine display of what a true mockumentary should be. Quirky, fun, and entertaining this story of a small town putting on a play of it’s history is sure to entertain many, while still staying true to it’s genre.
Corky St. Clair (Guest) is a gay director that has written an original screenplay about the history of the little Missouri town called Blaine. Blaine is one of those Fargo-type towns where every knows everybody else, and everybody has the same mid-west accent. The auditions are the first major part of a play, Corky is impressed by the town’s dentist, Dr. Allan Pearl (Levy) a man who wears very, very big glasses and is equally stunned by the duo of Sheila and Ron Albertson (Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard) the man and wife who can really sing. The production has six main players, with Parker Posey (imagine an independent film without her) as a Dairy Queen worker round out the bunch.
When a New York critic named Mr. Guffman (hence the film’s title) promises to come and review it they get even more excited. But the production runs into various problems, Corky insists on having the proper funding to take the show to Broadway, one of the actors is taken out of the play at last minute, and he can’t get Dr. Pearl to take off those darn glasses.
Why is it that everyone in a small town is so weird and quirky? For once if Hollywood could make a movie that didn’t showcase them in this way. Not to say that it isn’t enjoyable, this film is loaded with inside jokes and fun characters. I especially liked Eugene Levy as the town dentist who ends up singing songs to the elderly in Hebrew. But after a while some of the people in this film just seem to be there to be annoying. Seriously, this people must have some connection to the outside world. Waiting For Guffman also stays true to the formula never cutting away to do something super and fantastic and letting the characters interact and respond with the audience. If your looking for a little quirky fun I suggest you rent Waiting For Guffman, which gets *** stars.
The Young-Uns: While not made to appeal to children, this comedy includes 2 f-words. Good Age 11 & Up
A Review by Frankie Paiva The 12 Year-Old Movie Reviewer E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com Visit my website at http://expage.com/page/teenagemoviecritic
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