As the object of satire gets bigger the jokes become thinner, and Christopher Guest isn't as droll or insightful here than when he was lampooning smaller subjects.
As the object of satire gets bigger the jokes become thinner, and Christopher Guest isn't as droll or insightful here than when he was lampooning smaller subjects.
Mockumentary mastermind Christopher Guest turns his satirical eye away from dog shows, small-town theater, and folk music to offer a hilarious take on Hollywood award season in this comedy focusing on trio of actors whose lives are turned upside down when they discover that their performances in an independent film are generating a sizable buzz in the entertainment industry. Jay Berman (Guest) is in the process of directing his first feature film -- an intimate family drama set in the 1940s and
detailing the tempestuous reunion of an estranged Jewish family that is reluctantly drawn together to celebrate Purim at the behest of their dying matriarch. The cast soon comes down with an infectious case of award fever when rumors on the Internet claim that "Purim" stars Marilyn Hack (Catherine O' Hara), Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer), and Callie Webb (Parker Posey) may be delivering Oscar-caliber performances. When "Hollywood Now" co-anchors Chuck Porter (Fred Willard) and Cindy Martin (Jane Lynch) perpetuate the buzz on national television, the entire film crew starts to see stars in their eyes. Subsequently convinced that they have a sleeper hit on their hands, unit publicist Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins), talent agent Morley Orfkin (Eugene Levy), and producer Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge) immediately cave to requests from Sunfish Classics president Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais) to alter the film so that it may appeal to a larger audience. Now, while "Purim" screenwriters Lane Iverson (Michael McKean) and Philip Koontz (Bob Balaban) are forced to watch helplessly as their original screenplay is plundered in order to cash in on the positive buzz, awards season draws near and the production takes a most unexpected turn. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Individual scenes come across as amusing, but Guest loses comic momentum when he shifts between the shooting of the lachrymose Home for Purim and the segments lampooning entertainment media.
Fans of Guest's brand of repertory-company character comedies will find a few reasons to grin. But even the fanatical will have to admit that this one is hardly worth considering.
[Director Christoper Guest] finds the absurd (and shares in the discovery with his cast) but always sees some human, tender truth behind the laugh lines. As a result, For Your Consideration is certainly worth your consideration.
For Your Consideration might indeed be a bridge too far for the Guest troupe, but seeing it makes you want to liberate his inventive women for other projects
Isn't quite as on-target as [Guest's] previous efforts, but his talented troupe again delivers more giddy laughs than just about any other comedy out there.
Jay Berman: I love that you did all this work, and it'll serve you well - but not on this movie. For Your Consideration is at times a mildly amusing mocumentary, but for the most part it's jokes fall flat. This is widely considered Guest's worst mocumentary and I'd have to say I agree. I don't know what went wrong
here, but you'd think this could have been one of Guest's best. The story revolves around the shooting of and talent involved in a movie called Home for Purim(later to be called Home for Thanksgiving). The movie deals with Oscar hype and how it affects some of the movies stars. It's easy to tell when the movie wants to be funny; but most of the time it's just not. It still has it's moments of laugh-out-loud humor; it's just not what I expected from a Guest film. The usual cast is involved here again. All of Guest's standards are here; Parker Posey, Fred Willard and Eugene Levy just to name a few. This is a really disappointing movie because we've already seen what Guest could do with the likes of This is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman. For Your Consideration really deserves no consideration as a good mocumentary.
August 11, 2011
Melvin White
Super Reviewer
Another amusing Christopher Guest mockumentary, this time set in Hollywood and targeting the hoopla and absurdity surrounding the Oscar's and promise of a nomination. It took me a little while to warm up to this one, but eventually I got into it and it had some pretty funny moments. It is really quite clever in places,
and it's probably not that much of a stretch that a small movie and those involved could be swept up in the rumors of possible Academy Awards in such an extreme manner. The usual Guest regulars are all here, and so is his particular sense of humor that you either get, or you don't. It's a safe bet that you'll probably like For Your Consideration about as much as you liked other Guest movies like Best in Show. Manage your expectations accordingly.
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