For Your Consideration

'For Your Consideration Only'

Christopher Guest, by now almost a household name, has brought his most recent improv movie to the big screen. He is primarily known for the movies Best in Show and A Mighty Wind which features a group of talented actors and actresses improving the story and their way through scenes at a breathtakingly funny pace. He has already tackled dog shows, reunion folk concerts, and now...the Oscars. Sounds funny right? And it is, very funny, but not as commercially palatable nor funny as his past films.

The biggest problem with the film is that it is a film primarily made for film makers, critics, and anyone with a lot of knowledge of the backstage workings of the entertainment industry with a good dose of cynicism. That is not to say that all the jokes are mostly that way, but the few that are fall obviously flat and risk angering the audience when only a few people understand it and laugh, or chuckle quietly as I did. The other problem/asset is that the film is mocking the entertainment industry Oscar buzz and publicity. Normally Guest and company have taken on other fields in which rabid fans exist and make it commercially acceptable by mocking the conventions and personal attachment people achieve. The funniest part of Best in Show (for me at least) was the couple who had to take their dog to the therapist because the felt they had traumatized their baby by having sex in front of it. All of his films show the power of some seemingly inconsequential event and the effect it has over those who "live" for that event. The problem is that there are many actors and audience members who follow the Oscars and consider them not to be inconsequential. Instead of bringing an awareness of the the power of old folk music over people or the crazed desire to win the best fluffy dog prize, the film seems to highlight more the ridiculous and destructive nature of the Oscars and what they mean than the recognition of a job well done. This leads the characters into the problem of playing familiar stereotypes when the true brilliance of the older Guest films originates from the story forcing the actors to create new characters that will quickly become stereotypes by others.

Part of the fun of seeing a Guest film is seeing who from his old cast will be back and what new few will join the prestigious improve ranks of his company. A sure bet is seeing Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, and a bunch of others like Fred Willard and Jane Lynch. The great part is that it seems Guest is more than willing to swap around his leads, so once you are a part of the company, at some point you will be one of the leads. In this movie, the main leads are Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, and Harry Shearer. However, only one of them manages to pull off a character that can drive the audience. For a long time, Catherine O’Hara has shown acting chops in smaller movies like Home Alone. Finally, she has her chance to shine and she does it well. Her rise and fall during the movie is heartbreaking. If anyone or thing has a chance of being nominated this year, it is her. Parker Posey plays her part admirably but it is nothing amazing and Harry Shearer seems, well…too fake? I mean I realize he plays an actor whose biggest claim to fame is being a commercial actor for a hotdog company, but he never seems to be offended and he almost tries to hard to be “old-timey.” There are plenty of other great characterizations in the film, but honestly there is too much. What do I mean? Well, there are a bunch of people who show up in the film for one scene. Famous people, like Sandra O. The cast becomes so huge and the feel of the film becomes diluted among all the actors and subplots. It slows down the pace and can be very distracting. It also prevents the audience from becoming too involved with the characters when there are so many to keep up with. Plus you have the improv factor.

The improv factor is when you go to an improv show and you can quickly figure out which of the improve actors you like the best. The problem is that there may be certain games or many games in which that person doesn’t perform and when you leave you feel as if you have only seen an okay show. Guest is known for making improved movies meaning that he and co-writer Eugene Levy concoct an over arcing plot and they contrive the elements of the scene such where does the scene start, what happens in the scene and where does it end, but they never decide the dialogue. That is for the actors to do themselves through the chemistry they feel in the moment. In this case, there are so many actors that there are several actors that I wanted to see more of and several actors that I could have done more without.

Conclusion

With all of that being said, the movie is still very funny. The changing of the title of the movie being filmed in the story is a hilarious event and I felt there were several things they could have spent more time on. However, if you are going to see the film preparing to laugh your socks off (yes yes, rock them, I know) and see the best damn Guest film ever, well then you’ll be disappointed. It is a funny film and it comes off well, but here’s to hoping that Guest fixes his next film with a littler company and more focused plot line. 3.25 out of 5

Wannabe