Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are generating award-season buzz.

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alliecat_1982
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There is something both enchanting and disorienting about watching a Christopher Guest film that features conventional camera angles and a narrative structure. It is a brave, and ultimately, a rewarding choice for a director who has built his impeccable reputation on the strength of his mockumentaries.

Like its predecessors Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration is largely improvised, and reunites the same winning cast. Gone, however, are several of the conventions of Guest's previous films. For Your Consideration avoids the need to give every last character an extended 'interview' segment and instead weaves minor characters naturally into the fabric of the story. The narrative structure also prevents Guest from relying too heavily on cuts to b-roll sight gags that, while funny, are never more than gags. By challenging himself to tell this story in the absence of these and other mockumentary techniques, Guest is allowed to focus instead on scenes that show how his characters really respond to one another in the moment.

Half the fun of course is waiting for all the familiar faces to show up, and discovering what crazy character they have inhabited this time around. All the usual suspects are back in For Your Consideration, playing a colourful array of Hollywood types. Insecurities, foibles - and just a few quirks - are in full display.

Jennifer Coolidge is a brilliantly clueless producer, and Eugene Levy has a nice turn as a somewhat smarmy agent who has no faith whatsoever in his client (Harry Shearer's Victor Ann Miller). Guest himself is hilarious playing director Jay Berman, and one only wishes that we got to see more of his rehearsals with the actors, as these are some of the funniest scenes in the film. Mike McKean and Bob Balaban are a fun team as the cowriters of Home for Purim, the movie-within-the-movie. Making his first appearance in a Guest film, Ricky Gervais grabs perhaps the biggest laugh of all with a line that I won't spoil here. And while Fred Willard and Jane Lynch are dealt very broad characters, their send-up of Access Hollywood is laugh-out-loud funny, and provides the perfect vehicle for Willard's boorish shtick.

John Michael Higgins is in amazing form as Corey Taft, sporting surreal philosophies on actors and life that outdo even his colour-worshipping character from A Mighty Wind. And the doe-eyed and endlessly endearing Christopher Moynihan tosses off several absolute gems in response to the inanity going on around him. Much like his character in the film, he's likely to go unnoticed in favour of some flashier performances, but deserves accolades of his own. He and Parker Posey have a sweet, unrehearsed chemistry playing actors in puppy love.

While it is impossible to give due screen time to all of the troupe's mainstays, some deserved better. Jim Piddock is dealt a potentially juicier part than he's had in the past, as the irritable AD who is all too aware that he's surrounded by idiots. But his screen time is far too short to let it amount to much, and fans wanting to see him play against type are better advised to check out his brilliant performance in See This Movie. Meanwhile, Ed Begley Jr. is hideously miscast as the film's token flamboyant gay man. Furthermore, having such recognizable actors as Claire Forlani and particularly Sandra Oh show up for bit parts in For Your Consideration is more distracting than anything, and breaks the illusion of the self-contained world that worked so nicely in Guest's previous efforts.

Despite all of the comedic talent on display however, this is Catherine O'Hara's show, and she more than delivers in her role as fading screen star Marilyn Hack. Her insecurities, dreams, and vulnerabilities are handled with such poignancy and humour that O'Hara fully deserves whatever accolades may come her way in the months to come. She is luminous.

If For Your Consideration comes up a little short, it is in the story department. The outline devised by Guest and Levy suffers somewhat from a lack of focus. If, as Guest insists, this film is not intended as a satire of Hollywood but is rather the tragicomic tale of what happens to someone when they are told that they deserve an award, we should be spending less time on all the Hollywood in-jokes and parodies, and more time with the characters themselves.

We don't learn quite enough about our main characters – those portrayed by Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, and Parker Posey – to really understand how monumental it is for them to be caught up in the Oscar hype. We see that, professionally, they desperately need the break. But we get no perspective on how this effects their personal lives, or changes the way that they relate to the people closest to them. Where are their families? Their friends? They don't seem to have any. And if that was the point in and of itself, it wasn't brought across clearly enough.

Whatever the film's shortcomings, it is the smaller details that are purely Guest which make this film a triumph and future classic: Guest's perfect intonation as he instructs one actor to deliver his line as though "Mommy is going… now?", Jennifer Coolidge jumping in at the absolute perfect moment with "But what about me!?" in the midst of a heated argument that has nothing to do with her, or the sight of Harry Shearer suddenly wearing Rachael Harris' hat to help him get into character. These are the small moments that give Guest's works the rare distinction of being films that get progressively funnier with each viewing.

My hope for the next Guest film is that it continues to stretch the troupe in the way that these last two films have done. Ideally, we'll see an improvised, narrative comedy with some heart, all the expected hilarity… and a little more plot structure. Until then, here it is, for your consideration…

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4goldners from Colorado
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I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews here for what I thought was in many ways Christopher Guest's most developed movie yet. Granted, you either like his movies or not, but as someone who loved Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and Mighty Wind equally, I was in no way disappointed by For Your Consideration.

Maybe some of the humor here is easier to appreciate if you're Jewish, but that can't account for more than 5% of the jokes, and all of the actors were great. Particular kudos to O'Hara (as usual), Shearer, Lynch and Posey. The ET/Charlie Rose/Ebert & Roeper spoofs were hilarious and dead-on. The ending of the movie was truer than that of his previous films, and the ever expanding cast of Guest players made the viewing experience more fun than in the past (Sandra Oh, Ricky Gervais etc.).

My theory is that it's hard to approach a new Christopher Guest movie without justifiably expecting a lot, and great expectations often lead to disappointment. I was anxious to see For Your Consideration, but found it to be rewarding, very funny, and a little more poignant than usual (a good thing). Give it a chance and it'll grow on you.

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Gimme_Fiction from Canada
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I truly enjoyed this film, as did most everyone else at the World Premier in Toronto. Firstly, I haven't seen Spinal Tap, but of all the rest of his films, this is my favorite. His decision to depart the mockumentary format worked wonders in his favor. He didn't change his format so dramatically that you're unaware you're watching a Guest movie, it still carries his stamp. What he's done with this format is find a way to shave off all the somewhat boring bits that his other movies had durring the middle. Every second of this film was completely entertaining and will have you on the floor with laughter. The way he pokes fun of the silliness surrounding the Academy Awards is hilarious.

Guest himself probably gave my favorite performance as the director of "Home for Purim", with Jennifer Collidge coming in second as the producer. I truly can't wait to see this movie again when it goes wide release.

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Ed Uyeshima from San Francisco, CA, USA
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I look forward to Christopher Guest movies in the same way Ralphie did for his much beloved Red Ryder BB Gun in "A Christmas Story". Drenched with his deadpan wit, Guest's mockumentaries have been such well-targeted show business satires that it's hard to know when the script stops and the improvised reality begins. But that's a lot of the fun with his films, even though his newest is easily the most structured of the bunch. Along with constant co-writer and co-star Eugene Levy, Guest picks a target ripe with possibilities in this 2006 comedy, the Oscar-baiting season prior to the nominations, and surprisingly foregoes the direct interview format in favor of a more traditional narrative. I have to admit I miss some of this dynamic because the on-camera realism resulted in some of the funniest moments in the previous films.

Gratefully, what has been kept from his other films is Guest's stellar ensemble company of comic actors, and this time an even larger cast has been gathered, none of whom disappoint in this outing. The plot focuses on the production of a low-budget studio-bound film, "Home for Purim", a WWII-era family melodrama about a Jewish family in Georgia coping with the mother's terminal illness and the daughter's emergence as a lesbian. Directed by an authoritarian nebbish with an Art Garfunkel hairdo named Jay Berman, the film looks to be an overly sincere piece of tripe, but a blogger on one of the movie sites has predicted leading lady Marilyn Hack, a resigned, over-the-hill B-actress, will be nominated for an Oscar. This starts an Oscar buzz that engulfs the two other nominal principals of the movie, hot-dog pitchman Victor Allen Miller and "serious" actress Callie Webb, and the tidal wave of publicity drastically changes the direction and marketing campaign of the movie even before it's completed.

Guest and Levy fully capture the superficial pandering that occurs when the buzz is in full swing, and they particularly ridicule the ignorance and outdated thinking of those who find themselves in this lightning-in-a-bottle situation. There are acidic jabs at all the infotainment programs - "Entertainment Tonight", "MTV TRL", "The Charlie Rose Show" and "Ebert & Roeper" – but this is character-driven farce, and several stand out. In a brave turn as Marilyn, the wonderful and ever-dependable Catherine O'Hara superbly captures the almost overnight evolution from forgotten, timeworn actress into botox-infused, cleavage-squeezing A-lister wannabe. Harry Shearer gets his best showcase yet as the put-upon Victor whose mouthy agent Morley Orfkin refuses to take his calls until the buzz hits them. As Callie, Parker Posey is more in reactive mode here, though she has a funny Sandra Bernhard-like bit with her character's one-woman show, "No Penis Intended".

Everyone else gets less screen time, but they all provide memorably riotous contributions – Guest as Berman, Levy as Morley, Jennifer Coolidge as clueless producer Whitney Taylor Brown, John Michael Higgins as bromide-spouting publicist Corey Taft, Don Lake and Michael Hitchcock as the Love It/Hate It movie critics, Michael McKean and Bob Balaban as the academic screenwriters, Ed Begley Jr. as Marilyn's fey hairdresser (and biggest fan), Ricky Gervais as the oily studio honcho, and best of all, as the entertainment TV co-hosts, Fred Willard as mohawk-moussed Chuck Porter and Jane Lynch as gam-showcasing Mary Hart-knockoff Cindy Martin. I imagine Guest's reputation is the reason you see such high-profile actors like Sandra Oh and Craig Bierko in nothing more than bit parts here. The film takes a sharp turn toward the end that adds surprising vitriol to the laughs, and the vituperative tone makes the proceedings all the more devastating and resonant. More like "A Mighty Wind" with its dramatic undercurrents, this one is not as laugh-out-loud as "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show", but it shows a continuing maturation in Guest's film-making technique that is most welcome.

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sbmill-1 from Australia
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I'm also surprised by some of the negative commentary around 'For your Consideration'. The satire seemed to me to be to be quite precise - particularly in its analysis of the average actor's life - which is a lot more like "For Your Consideration" or Ricky Gervais's brilliant "The Extras" than anything you're likely to see on Entertainment Tonight that is for sure.

Having studied method acting over several years (a long time ago), and having worked as an extra at different low points in my life (never ever again), I have to say that I laughed till I cried. Without giving the ending away,Marilyn Hacke's closing scene is so on the money - what a cracker!

Acting, actor training and film are all open to exploitation of the gullible because so many people are desperate to be part of it; consequently it's an area ripe for satire. For me, this was more on the money than "Waiting for Guffman" although I enjoyed that too. For your consideration has sharper edges. I think it's great that Ricky Gervais performs in this film. Gervaise is such an 'English' comic whilst Guest's sensibilities are very American - but in the shared fascination with human idiosyncracies, banalities and foibles, they both create a very contemporary form of the comedy of manners.

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zainashirk from United States
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I love this acting troupe. They are a well tuned machine. Though this movie is perhaps a little "inside" of the Hollywood Movie Industry, and the publicity machine on which it is driven, all of the regulars and the new faces invited into the fold give wonderful performances and play their parts with just the right amount of camp with their tongues in their cheeks. I mean after all. don't many of us WANT to know about the inside of the industry? The duo entertainment reporters ( Jane Lynch and Fred Willard) are hilarious and Catherine O'hara's performance is masterful. (do I hear Oscar Buzzzz?) But that is not to say any of the cast's performances were not noteworthy. My whole family had a great time. This is not meant to be a Great panoramic epic, this is good clean hilarity from some of our favorite actors.

If you are a fan of "Best in Show", Waiting for Guffman etc, or you just want to get to know these gifted actors, DO go see this film, nap before you go so you can be happy and rested and hear the inside jokes that spark the guffaws heard throughout the theater. Zaina

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ohalexisababy from Massachusetts, United States
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Lights. Camera. Satire! Such is the mantra of actor/director Christopher Guest's latest film, For Your Consideration, a parody of pretentious Hollywood ceremonies and the actors that suck up to them. With award season upon us, it would seem to be a very appropriate time for the release of such a film, and in fact, it is…if only the film were good. Rather, the formerly hilarious Guest provides us with an interesting premise and not much comedy to back it up – only a myriad of underdeveloped and overly annoying characters.

Washed-up and nearly forgotten, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara) strives to gain recognition as a serious actress, barely surviving on mere crumbs of ambition. When she hears rumors of a possible Academy Award nomination for her role in the nauseatingly sentimental Home For Purim, she becomes obsessed with fantasies of fame and praise. As rumors of nomination begin to surround the rest of the cast, rivalry and obsession dominate the set, inflating the egos of the previously unemployed actors.

Since his 1996 film, Waiting for Guffman, many of Guest's films have achieved "cult classic" status and have been deservingly hailed as innovative comic gems by audiences and critics alike. His most popular films, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and the aforementioned Waiting for Guffman, all share a common bond –they are "mockumentaries". Primarily dependent on the improvisation of their veteran actors, Guest's films are hilarious and often bizarre doses of comedy, thick with wit and absurdity. For Your Consideration, however, is not a "mockmentary," a simple descriptor that may be the cause of its failure. Substituting mere pity chuckles for full-bellied laughter, the film wastes the talent of its cast, providing them with a dull and dry script, and allowing no room for the celebrated ad-libbing that made Guest's previous films so successful. With talent such as O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Begley Jr., Ricky Gervais, and Guest himself, a film as chronically unfunny as this one is an absolute disgrace.

While the film successfully parodies "infotainment" television programming, the fickle entertainment industry, plastic surgery trends, and standard award season maudlin trash, it doesn't do so with any originality or inspiration. It seems as if even the cast were bored making this film. The performances are good, especially on behalf of the charming O'Hara, but are ultimately forgettable. Let's hope Guest either quits or finds a way to redeem himself, but regardless, one thing is for sure: there will certainly be no "consideration" for Guest this time around.

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(roland@atkinsononfilm.com) from Portland, Oregon, United States
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Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. In an impressive string of wonderful mockumentary farces over the past few years, guiding lights Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, and their brilliant comedic acting ensemble, have joyfully savaged the self-important cultural "worlds" of small town amateur theater ("Waiting for Guffman"), dog shows ("Best in Show") and folk music ("A Mighty Wind").

But a winning formula can't go on forever unchanged, nor should we expect it to. Inevitably, the group have hit a bump in the road with their latest film, "For Your Consideration," a send-up of Hollywood movie making and the assorted vanities of movie makers. Not that it's bad. But compared to those earlier works, it isn't inspired; it doesn't grab you with its efforts to lampoon; and the performances of the actors - always uniformly of a high caliber in most of their movies – is highly variable in this new movie. Perhaps the theme hits too close to home: it's hard to gain the distance necessary to properly ridicule your own ethos, your own cultural world. Or maybe it's just that the recipe Guest and Levy have used to such delightful advantage has just gotten old, for viewers and for Guest's company.

The plot, for what it's worth, concerns a film within a film: the making of a new movie, the ethnically freighted "Home for Purim," which is later rewritten and retitled "Home for Thanksgiving" to broaden its commercial box office appeal. All the stereotypes one expects are on hand: the avaricious executive producers; the harried director; the screenwriters, pained by the incremental decimation of their work; the aging stars in decline; the young up and comings; the vain chase after that holiest of grails: an Oscar, the hangers on – the parasitic, disingenuous talent agent, talk show hosts, film critics and entertainment reporters. They're all here.

Parker Posey (young actress possibly on the way up), Catherine O'Hara ((veteran actress on the way out), Jennifer Coolidge (ditzy producer), and Eugene Levy (actors' agent) provide decent turns but none of these superb talents gives a truly inspired performance here. Harry Shearer is better as a long-suffering actor who is glad enough just to star in a feature film after years of making commercials, Oscar or no Oscar. But the comedic scene stealers in this movie are three pairs of actors who play off each other to wonderful effect: Fred Willard and Jane Lynch as a TV entertainment reporting duo, Bob Balaban and Michael McKean as the beleaguered screenwriters, and Don Lake and Michael Hitchcock as Siskel-Ebert style TV critics. There are several competent cameo contributors as well, the best of whom is Carrie Aizley, a movie journalist.

This is decent fare, but I think Guest and Levy need to re-imagine their formula for successful farce. I never thought the day would come when I would regard a comedy written by David Mamet as superior to work by Guest & Levy, but here's a tip: if you want to see a good send-up of movie making, try Mamet's 2000 film, "State and Main." My grades: 6.5/10 (low B) (Seen on 11/15/06)

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Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete
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I don't have much to say about "For Your Consideration," except that I liked it, in spite of the negative reviews it received, and I wanted to say that here in case other viewers, like me, put off viewing it because the reviews put us off.

"For Your Consideration" is a small, brief (86 minutes), sweet, funny movie. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as "Best in Show" (few movies are) but I liked it better than "Mighty Wind," which I also liked.

Christopher Guest's usual crew is in its usual fine form. Catherine O'Hara is funny in a whole new way, with at least one scene that is quite poignant and unforgettable, at least to struggling artists. John Michael Higgins does a very funny William H. Macy-like character. Jane Lynch is dead-on as an "Entertainment Tonight" style tabloid "journalist."

I even liked the ventriloquist Nina Conti -- and I normally run from the room when a ventriloquist comes on.

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colberino from United States
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I'm a gigantic "Waiting for Guffman" fan. I also really liked "Best In Show." I thought "A Mighty Wind," while not great, was creative and tender. I saw "For Your Consideration" today and while there were funny moments peppered throughout, the film comes off as half-baked. I sat there until the last credit rolled trying to like this film, and couldn't.

I appreciate that so many actors have joined up with Guest to be in his movies, but there are now so many Guest "regulars" that there is barely any character development. "A Mighty Wind" tried to remedy this by giving each character one big quirk. "Consideration" seems to use this tactic sparingly... both a blessing and a curse. What I miss is the intimacy of "Guffman," where we got to know 5-6 characters very well. "Consideration" comes off less as an ensemble cast, and more as a long string of cameos.

Catherine O'Hara gives a brilliant, nuanced performance~ I wish we had gotten to know more about her character.

*Definitely spoilers here!* As other reviewers have pointed out, "Consideration" has a very similar ending to "Guffman." But whereas the ending of "Guffman" is somewhat bemusing (Corky talking about his shop), I thought the ending of "Consideration" was cruel, predictable, and saddening.

actor|purim|publicist|internet|make up|reporter|oscars|written and directed by cast member|self indulgence|egotism|weiner|self centeredness|publicity|fictional radio show|plymouth rock|advertisement|family relationships|dysfunctional family|jew|acting|buffalo wings|restaurant|reference to esther|french|sense of smell|disembodied head|diapers|poster|security guard|cable tv|police|policeman|foot spray|fake telephone call|assistant director|rabbit|easter|band|talk show host|fictional talk show|fictional tv show|loser|flash forward|one woman show|tv weather woman|dreidel|craft service table|stand up comedy|kilt|earphones|balloon|watching a movie on tv|watching a movie|watching tv|los angeles california|gentile|foreskin|penis|pipe smoking|magnifying glass|trophy|variety the newspaper|tiara|party|shoe salesman|eating|food|rain|acting class|film critic|acting teacher|website|computer|rumor|answering machine|cell phone|telephone call|puppet|ventriloquist's dummy|ventriloquist|guitarist|guitar|song|singing|singer|makeup artist|audition|screenwriter|satire|bar|fortune teller|crystal ball|cinematographer|nervous breakdown|drunkenness|drink|drinking|kiss|sailor costume|film studio|talking to the camera|prologue|fake documentary|mockumentary|improvisation|dinner|three word title|homosexual|reporting|plastic surgery|invasion of privacy|infomercial|terminal illness|writer|thanksgiving|film producer|movie star|film set|movie news|lesbian|jewish|jewish humor|interview|hollywood california|holiday|gay|film within a film|filmmaking|film industry|entertainment industry|film director|tv commercial|fictional awards show|talent agent|actress|

AKAs Titles:


Certifications:
Australia:M / Germany:12 / Ireland:12A / New Zealand:M / Portugal:M/12 / Singapore:PG / UK:12A / USA:PG-13