Review of Waiting for Guffman (1997) by Greg B — 17 Nov 2008

A softer and sillier first effort by Christopher Guest's ensemble and a definite cult classic in its own right. I've always seen these improvised mockumentaries (a term Guest dislikes, since he never feels he is mocking anyone, an argument I agree with) as studies of people whose lives are deeply unfulfilled at the center and who throw a disturbing amount of their energy into something which cannot reciprocate that same enthusiasm or, in the case of showbusiness as it is depicted in Guest's films, will betray them.

Guests' characters fall hard and from self-inflicted heights. And in each successive film the hit-bottom feels harder and harder. The fact that his characters have only gotten more self-obsessed and acridly shallow has only made the smack against the wall of reality all the more sweet.

But in this first film the sights are set at the naive citizens of a sleepy Missouri town whose ideas of themselves remain pretty fixed and realistic to who they really are, going nowhere in a nowhere town and pretty much okay with that.

Its when Corky's regional theater production interrupts all that and gives them glimpses of their potential when the film begins to inflate their little lives, and egos, and give them bigger ideas about where their lives could go.

The only characters who belong to the deluded, self-imortant type these films have captured so well are Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard, who steal the show (as always) during their moments as travel agents who like to think of themselves as acting royalty.

The discussion of Penis Reduction at the Chinese restaurant is a gem of uncomfortable moments. The showstopper "Stool Boom" is also a highlight.