If you have ever seen a Christopher Guest film, you will know exactly what to expect from his latest work. What it consists of is his troupe of elite improvisational comedians all playing small parts in one bigger picture, each having their own quirkiness and oddities, each of them supplying you with enough laughs to keep you going as long as the film does. "For Your Consideration" is a complete send-up of what buzz (online, ironically) can do to change everyone's perspective on a film, and on himself or herself.
Although nobody is on-screen for more than twenty to twenty-five minutes, if there was a "lead" for this ensemble work, it would have to be Catherine O'Hara in the best work of her career. She plays Marilyn Hack, an elderly actress who is not used to publicity and who has never been glamorous or gorgeous in the way that most celebrities are. She is one of the leads in Jay Berman's (Christopher Guest) drama called "Home for Purim." In this film, she plays a chronically ill mother wanting her daughter to come home before she dies, but when her daughter does come home, she discovers that she has a female lover, making things even worse.
Anyone who knows anything about film can tell that this overly dramatized and extremely- stereotypical-of-Jews picture would make a disaster of a film in real life, but thanks to somebody sneaking on set and proclaiming that he smells Oscar nominations in favor for this film, everybody involved in the film tries to do things differently to prepare it for its much-anticipated release. The studio executives even go so far as to, when wanting to draw audiences outside the Jewish community, ask for the film's title to be changed to "Home for Thanksgiving," a holiday film that you don't have to believe in the Ten Commandments to enjoy. It needs to "tone down the Jewish-NESS," as they put it.
Here, we see how a little bit of buzz completely changes who some of these people are, as Marilyn Hack goes from a shy, unglamorous woman to an outgoing, "sexy" female who has had a ridiculous number of face lifts since receiving buzz for her film. As all this happens, we are faced with hundreds of very clever wisecracks about the film industry as well as many other forms of entertainment such as the internet and movie talk shows (Fred Willard and Jane Lynch are perfect imitations of this in their morning show "Wake Up, Los Angeles!"). Basically, if you enjoy Christopher Guest's style of having simple set-ups and putting wacky characters in a bound-to-go-wrong situation, you are definitely going to enjoy this film.
This is not quite at the level of humor that his masterpiece "Best in Show" reached, but I can firmly state that it is funnier than his other two works, which are "Waiting for Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind." It is not aimed to be grand comedy with hilarious slapstick humor (for it has none of that), but for a great bit of irony and a mockery of a form of American culture, "For Your Consideration" is all that you could ask for. I also hope to see Catherine O'Hara land a Best Supporting Actress nomination, for it was definitely deserving of one.
Summary: One of the year's funniest films with great ensemble work and a very cute and clever touch. It is also a film that people who didn't love Guest's other work could enjoy more because the humor isn't as subtle as it is in his other work.
Although nobody is on-screen for more than twenty to twenty-five minutes, if there was a "lead" for this ensemble work, it would have to be Catherine O'Hara in the best work of her career. She plays Marilyn Hack, an elderly actress who is not used to publicity and who has never been glamorous or gorgeous in the way that most celebrities are. She is one of the leads in Jay Berman's (Christopher Guest) drama called "Home for Purim." In this film, she plays a chronically ill mother wanting her daughter to come home before she dies, but when her daughter does come home, she discovers that she has a female lover, making things even worse.
Anyone who knows anything about film can tell that this overly dramatized and extremely- stereotypical-of-Jews picture would make a disaster of a film in real life, but thanks to somebody sneaking on set and proclaiming that he smells Oscar nominations in favor for this film, everybody involved in the film tries to do things differently to prepare it for its much-anticipated release. The studio executives even go so far as to, when wanting to draw audiences outside the Jewish community, ask for the film's title to be changed to "Home for Thanksgiving," a holiday film that you don't have to believe in the Ten Commandments to enjoy. It needs to "tone down the Jewish-NESS," as they put it.
Here, we see how a little bit of buzz completely changes who some of these people are, as Marilyn Hack goes from a shy, unglamorous woman to an outgoing, "sexy" female who has had a ridiculous number of face lifts since receiving buzz for her film. As all this happens, we are faced with hundreds of very clever wisecracks about the film industry as well as many other forms of entertainment such as the internet and movie talk shows (Fred Willard and Jane Lynch are perfect imitations of this in their morning show "Wake Up, Los Angeles!"). Basically, if you enjoy Christopher Guest's style of having simple set-ups and putting wacky characters in a bound-to-go-wrong situation, you are definitely going to enjoy this film.
This is not quite at the level of humor that his masterpiece "Best in Show" reached, but I can firmly state that it is funnier than his other two works, which are "Waiting for Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind." It is not aimed to be grand comedy with hilarious slapstick humor (for it has none of that), but for a great bit of irony and a mockery of a form of American culture, "For Your Consideration" is all that you could ask for. I also hope to see Catherine O'Hara land a Best Supporting Actress nomination, for it was definitely deserving of one.
Summary: One of the year's funniest films with great ensemble work and a very cute and clever touch. It is also a film that people who didn't love Guest's other work could enjoy more because the humor isn't as subtle as it is in his other work.