For Your Consideration
Director: Christopher Guest
Cast: Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard.
When This is Spinal Tap first hit the screens back in 1984 it was a highly original concept and an hilarious film that has stood the test of time. It perfectly captured the excesses of rock music of the time and lampooned it with enough subtlety as to make it totally believable. Since then Christopher Guest has been targeting marginal groups, from dog-owners to folk singers, with his mockumentary format. Now he has turned his attention to Hollywood, a seemingly obvious choice for his brand of satire.
For Your Consideration differs slightly from his previous outings in that it does not fully utilise the documentary format. It all looks far too polished, and is rather a collection of vignettes showing the lives of the talent involved in making a very cheesy war-time drama called Home for Purim. Following a comment on a website that one of the principals, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), a character actress who has never gained the respect she thinks she deserves, is rumoured to be a possible Oscar nominee. As the rumour mill gets turning, two of her co-stars are soon joining her, with all of them becoming darlings of the Hollywood gossip TV shows.
There are some very funny and acutely observed pieces, like the verbose interviewer talking to the scriptwriters without giving them chance to reply, but it lacks the real biting satire of Altman's The Player or John Water's Cecil B Demented. Part of the problem may lie in the fact that Hollywood and the whole awards circus is so unreal that it constantly makes a mockery of itself. Unless exceptionally well done, films about filmmaking are seen as narcissistic and even lazy filmmaking - or simply biting the hand that feeds you. Or maybe it fails to impress because all the characters and situations are completely fictitious, in a world where we know the most intimate details of Hollywood celebrities' lives.
Whatever the reasons, like the fictitious actors in the story, it falls short of the mark. It has some laughs but just can't match Guest and company's previous output.
For Your Consideration is showing at the London Film Festival, Odeon West End on Saturday October 28 and Sunday 29. It will be on general release in February 2007.
Cast: Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard.
When This is Spinal Tap first hit the screens back in 1984 it was a highly original concept and an hilarious film that has stood the test of time. It perfectly captured the excesses of rock music of the time and lampooned it with enough subtlety as to make it totally believable. Since then Christopher Guest has been targeting marginal groups, from dog-owners to folk singers, with his mockumentary format. Now he has turned his attention to Hollywood, a seemingly obvious choice for his brand of satire.
For Your Consideration differs slightly from his previous outings in that it does not fully utilise the documentary format. It all looks far too polished, and is rather a collection of vignettes showing the lives of the talent involved in making a very cheesy war-time drama called Home for Purim. Following a comment on a website that one of the principals, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), a character actress who has never gained the respect she thinks she deserves, is rumoured to be a possible Oscar nominee. As the rumour mill gets turning, two of her co-stars are soon joining her, with all of them becoming darlings of the Hollywood gossip TV shows.
There are some very funny and acutely observed pieces, like the verbose interviewer talking to the scriptwriters without giving them chance to reply, but it lacks the real biting satire of Altman's The Player or John Water's Cecil B Demented. Part of the problem may lie in the fact that Hollywood and the whole awards circus is so unreal that it constantly makes a mockery of itself. Unless exceptionally well done, films about filmmaking are seen as narcissistic and even lazy filmmaking - or simply biting the hand that feeds you. Or maybe it fails to impress because all the characters and situations are completely fictitious, in a world where we know the most intimate details of Hollywood celebrities' lives.
Whatever the reasons, like the fictitious actors in the story, it falls short of the mark. It has some laughs but just can't match Guest and company's previous output.
For Your Consideration is showing at the London Film Festival, Odeon West End on Saturday October 28 and Sunday 29. It will be on general release in February 2007.
posted by Chris Patmore at 10:44 PM
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