Waiting for Guffman

[Derf]

I recently went to Big Lots, which had a new batch of $3 movies out. I bought Waiting for Guffman, Cirque du Soleil's Quidam, and Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters. I haven't had a chance to watch the last two, but I absolutely love Guffman. I saw it on one of the pay channels about 8 years ago, rented it a year or so later to see the whole thing again, and then for some reason never got around to buying it on DVD. I think this may be my favorite of Guest's mockumentaries, though I have enjoyed them all. Guest is brilliant as Corky St. Clair, and Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara are always comedy gold, and more so in this film than most. Eugene Levy is always fun to watch as well. The cast here just gels suberbly, and the result is a stock of comic genius mixed with tidbits of poignancy and hearty chunks of insight to get a satisfying soup, er, chowder, no--STEW, yeah, STEW of movie gold. I'd gladly have this every Tuesday while I sat on my Blain stool, 'cause chairs are for fools.

[zombie no.one]

I think this may be my favorite of Guest's mockumentaries

nothing tops A MIGHTY WIND for me, but yeah I agree they are all good!

[The Burgomaster]

I love WAITING FOR GUFFMAN.  I'm a fan of all of Guest's mockumentaries, but this one might very well be my favorite.  I was never a big Fred Willard fan, but he's hilarious in these movies.  I also think Parker Posey is great in these movies.  Another of my favorites is BEST IN SHOW.

[peter johnson]

Having been part of more community theatre productions than I care to count, I gotta say he gets the tone exactly right.

I love too how Guest has given an ongoing home to so many SCTV and Second City Live alumns.

And the pitiful piece of blue chicken that Posey is tearfully barbequeing . . . now that's pathos with a smile!!

peter johnson/denny crane

[AndyC]

I liked this one, but I didn't find it as funny as A Mighty Wind or Best In Show. As with all the mockumentaries there's a lot of truth in Waiting for Guffman, but I do find it particularly easy to relate to because of the focus on small-town organizations and community theatre. What I really loved about it was that back around 1998, my hometown had a big homecoming celebration, and our local theatre people put together a production along the same lines as the one in the movie.

What still vracks me up is Eugene Levy talking about his grandfather's hit song, "Bubbi Made a Kishke," from the show, "Dybbuk Shmybbuk, I Said 'More Ham.'"