Friends and Faux
Movie review by Robert Newton

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION; Starring Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest; Written by Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest; Directed by Christopher Guest; 86 minutes; Rated PG-13 [for sexual references and brief language]

With an evergreen string of cult hits like Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind under his belt, writer/director Christopher Guest and his talented troupe of regulars are becoming warm and friendly faces to many. His latest, the mostly-good, mostly-funny movie industry send-up For Your Consideration, continues that trend, even though the format has changed a little bit.

The story focuses on the cast of a little period arthouse film called Home For Purim, a Jewish holiday coming-out story set in post-War suburbia. When some of the actors’ performances generate Oscar buzz, things get all farcockteh (to borrow a word from Yiddish), creating chaos behind the scenes and in the lives of everyone involved. Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy, both of whom also act in the film, know the cast’s strengths and weaknesses, and tailor parts accordingly. Rather than penning a traditional screenplay, Guest and Levy meticulously outline, providing a framework in which their actors can improvise, something they all again manage like the pros they are.

Guest, who co-wrote the memorably brilliant 1983 jape This Is Spinal Tap, deviates from the fictional documentary format this time, instead opting for a straight narrative. It is a risky choice, in that he has scored four times with the old format, but it mostly pays off. Not having to constantly service the premise that a camera crew is an unseen character in the mix allows Guest and his stable of comedic commandos to spin their voodoo with a greater concentration on character. And what characters he has.

Catherine O’Hara, just like she was as the “experienced” doting dog owner in Best In Show, is the, well, best in show here. Marilyn Hack, her over-the-hill actress with one last shot at making a name for herself is both tragic and hilarious. O’Hara amps up Marilyn’s inner diva so beautifully, mirrored nicely by Harry Shearer’s character, Victor Allen Miller. The way Shearer’s trophy-hungry nobody tries to gloss over his days as a mascot for a hot dog company is played so nicely, and it is a great running gag. It is truly grotesque when both Marilyn and Victor preen in the days before nominations are announced, by which time, of course, their film has been transformed by the studio into the Peoria-safe Home For Thanksgiving.

Will this all translate into butts in seats, then? Hardly. As popular as Guest’s work might be in some circles, he is still just the king of a niche. Part of this has to do with how subtle he is. There are no dancing monkeys in dresses here, no fart jokes and no pie humping. While the film is actually playing in Peoria right now, it will likely not do so for very much longer, so catch it before the holiday squeeze relegates it to the hospice of a once-daily 10:20pm show. Otherwise, you might as well resign yourself to putting it in your Netflix queue now and visiting with these warm and friendly faces after the holidays in roughly 3-4 months.

Score: 3.5/5

For more on the film, check out our interview with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy.