Fans of “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show” and “A Mighty Wind”: attention! Christopher Guest and his returning comedy troupe have, “For Your Consideration,” another semi-improvised spoof of over-earnest second-raters and their pompous ambition. After trouncing community theater, dog shows and folk-music nostalgia, their slice of immodest life this time is one very familiar to the critically acclaimed director/co-writer/actor Guest, his co-creator and costar Eugene Levy and their ad-libbing cohorts in madcap satire.
Because today they send-up the award-grubbing temptations of the movie business.
Like “A Mighty Wind,” “Consideration” suffers somewhat from comparison to the side-splitting genius of the first two Guest outings. After “Guffman” and “Best in Show,” aficionados have become familiar with the patented brand of ego-deflating haplessness of the Guest characters and the wicked giggles they provoke. His modus operandi is starting to seem a little stale; the gags aren?t as consistent.
Nevertheless, the comic timing and shameless bluster of his brilliant regulars combined with the ripe fodder of Tinseltown?s inanity keep his latest afloat.
“For Your Consideration” revolves around the production of a small drama called ? OK, wait for it ? “Home for Purim.” It?s the heart-warming ? or, rather, hideously and hilariously corny ? story of an estranged southern Jewish family in the 1940s who reunite over the holidays. As a Jewish person born and raised below the Mason-Dixon line myself, I laughed most during the early part of the picture where the “Shalom, y?all” contrast of cultures in the film-within-the-film and the elevation of the campy motifs of Purim get skewered by Guest and Co.
?For Your Consideration?
Stars: Harry Shearer, Catherine O?Hara and Parker Posey
Director: Christopher Guest
Rated: PG-13 for sexual references and brief language
