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Waiting for Guffman (1997)

tomatometer

91

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 54
Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 5

This riotously deadpan mockumentary about aspiring community theater performers never stoops to ridicule oft-ridiculous characters.

82

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 2

This riotously deadpan mockumentary about aspiring community theater performers never stoops to ridicule oft-ridiculous characters.

audience

89

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 39,844

My Rating

Movie Info

The city of Blaine, Missouri is celebrating its sesquicentennial, and what better reason could there be to put on a show? Corky St. Claire (Christopher Guest), current leader of Blaine's community theater group and creator of a stage musical version of Backdraft that led to the unfortunate destruction of the theater, has been commissioned to put together a musical about the city's noble history, "Red, White and Blaine," which stars a variety of the town's theatrical talent. Corky's cast includes

R, 1 hr. 24 min.

Comedy

Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

Aug 21, 2001

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (5) | DVD (15)

This 1997 comedy may be amusing if you feel a pressing need to feel superior to somebody, but the aim is too broad and scattershot to add up to much beyond an acknowledgment of small-town desperation.

August 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A madcap gem.

February 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
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Where This Is Spinal Tap took rock music and the media as its focus - fat, juicy targets just asking to be lampooned - Guest's target here is small-town provincials.

May 14, 2004 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
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A very funny, very unusual ensemble comedy that falls somewhere between slapdash and brilliant, an improvised comedy with more hits than misses.

April 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
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Priceless.

May 11, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
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A sly and gleeful comedy showcase that pokes clever fun at the American musical, amateur theatricals and anything else that's not nailed down.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
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Fab small-town spoof; subtle humor may bore kids.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

The songs (co-written by Guest and Tapster Harry Shearer) are suitably ridiculous and the deadpan gags come thick, fast and too numerous to mention, all delivered with knuckle-gnawing subtlety by the C-list cast with A-list style.

August 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Frequently funny -- sometimes very funny indeed.

August 12, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Raucous, outrageously funny, and filled with many zany scenes.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

One of the funniest movies ever made, 'Waiting for Guffman' spoofs everything from documentaries and talent shows to local politics and alien abductions.

June 10, 2007 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | Comment
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Trabalhando em um subgênero que praticamente ajudou a crier (o do pseudocumentário), Guest cria mais um filme que diverte por compreender tão bem seu tema e seus personagens.

December 23, 2006 Comment
Cinema em Cena

A sly, gleeful and subtle comedy that pokes fun at American musicals, amateur theatricals, and the culture of celebrity-the universal wish to be famous--set in the small, provincial town of Blaine about to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

September 19, 2006 Full Review Source: Screendaily | Comment
Screendaily

The comedy has the slow burn of a richly nuanced and non-judgmental character study.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

It's Corky's movie.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Guest's satire of small-town America and amateur actors has a sly edge, it's not mean, and Guest never strips his characters of their dignity.

June 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Waiting for Guffman

Christopher Guest's mockumentary about the putting on of a play in a small town doubles as a questioning of all those small town dreams of Hollywood. Entertaining.

September 8, 2007
moonrivers

Super Reviewer

Another great Christopher Guest film. It was short and sweet, getting to the comically rich center point in the nick of time.

August 12, 2010
FrizzDrop

Super Reviewer

    1. Corky St. Claire: Everybody dance!
    – Submitted by Mitchell R (4 months ago)
    1. Corky St. Claire: You are bastard people.
    – Submitted by Blair B (7 months ago)

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