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Movies / On DVD / Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman

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Waiting for Guffman (1997)

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91 %
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Reviews Counted: 53

Fresh: 48

Rotten:5

Average Rating: 7.7/10

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

Runtime: 84 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: This mock documentary, set in the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri, chronicles the attempts of its talent-free residents to put on a show celebrating the burg's 150th anniversary. From the fey... This mock documentary, set in the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri, chronicles the attempts of its talent-free residents to put on a show celebrating the burg's 150th anniversary. From the fey director Corky St. Clair to the Dairy Queen girl, the cast and crew scream incompetence. Furthermore, St. Claire has invited Guffman -- a Broadway producer -- to see the production, with the hopes that they will eventually make it to the Great White Way. Can the local yokels make something out of nothing? [More]

Starring: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara

Starring: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Fred Willard, Paul Dooley

Director: Christopher Guest

Director: Christopher Guest
Screenwriter: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 21, 2001

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Waiting for Guffman

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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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.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/12/08
Neil Jeffries
Empire Magazine

Frequently funny -- sometimes very funny indeed.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/12/08
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/12/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/25/07
Dennis Schwartz
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.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/10/07
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

A madcap gem.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
02/27/07
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
12/23/06
Pablo Villaca
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.

Full Review Source: Screendaily | comment Comment
09/19/06
Emanuel Levy
Screendaily

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

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

It's Corky's movie.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Ron Wells
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
10/07/05
Michael Szymanski
International Press Academy

No review available.

comment Comment
09/29/05
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
06/17/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
02/23/05
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

No review available.

comment Comment
12/21/04
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

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.

Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | comment Comment
06/23/04
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

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.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
05/14/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
03/17/04
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

It keeps you laughing from beginning to end.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
03/16/04
Apollo Guide

Everyone will think it's funny; people who've actually done community theatre will laugh themselves into a coma.

comment Comment
02/04/04
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for Waiting for Guffman

August 18, 2008: RT Counts Down the Best-Reviewed Theater Movies of all Time!
Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats: the countdown is about to begin. We at RT have raised the curtain on "The Play's the Thing," a list of the 25 best-reviewed films... More...

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