Waiting For Guffman (1996)

Directed By:  Christopher Guest

Written By:  Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy

Cast:  Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara

Plot:  In the small Missouri town of Blaine, an effeminate wannabe director from the city attempts to reach stardom by bringing a musical with local residents to the attention of a Broadway representative.  And it’s not played cute or fake, but ultimately, and satisfyingly, for REAL.

Review:  How truly and utterly refreshing this was, a low budget down-to-Earth look at interesting and believable characters attempting to reach heights in all their naiveté.  Anyone familiar with director Christopher Guest and his troupe of regulars, as I am, knows what can await them.  All of their other “mockumentaries” including A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, and This Is Spinal Tap (Guest did not direct the latter) impress with their honest takes on unique and hilarious characters.  However I had never been privy to this film until after seeing those mentioned, and what a pleasant and hilarious surprise I had to find this might be the best of the bunch.

The story is simple enough:  a small town coming together to celebrate their culture and history in an original musical.  What really makes this movie effective are the diverse characters, which is ostensibly the director’s modus operandi.  Guest had a script in hand, but would basically just give an outline of a scene to the actors, and let them proceed how they wanted (the basic procedure of films to follow, but revolutionary here).  In every sense of the word this is a wonderfully goofy character piece, both character driven and character supported.

"A musical is like warm apple pie..."

Other elements in the film come out fine, emulating a fairly cheap documentary atmosphere that completely suits the film, almost to the point that you forget its fake.  The use of real location and lack of music also assist in sucking you into verisimilitude.  There’s even a slightly exciting underdog element, as they acting troop awaits the arrival of the man from Broadway (the titular Guffman) believing success is truly a possibility.

If there’s one complaint to be had, it’s the fully shown realization of the musical.  This does add to the realism of the story, documentary style, and is funny, but it also slightly takes away from the pacing, lacking in the plethora of comedic moments seen earlier.  Perhaps its better this way though; being a character driven piece, and actually being able to care for these people, one can appreciate what they have strived for, and it is pleasing to see the group come to fruition.  

Comments

[Jake]

Waiting for Guffman is cool and all ... but does it go to 11?