Waiting for Guffman

Waiting for Guffman is a mockumentary directed and written by Christopher Guest (who also stars). It focuses in upon a flamboyant drama director named Corky (Guest) who has been commissioned by the town of Blaine, Missouri, to direct and write a musical about the town's history. He does this for the 150th anniversary of this odd little town, whose claims to fame include a UFO landing in 1946, and they make a lot of stools. He holds auditions, and ends up with this dubiously talented group: A dentist (Eugene Levy), two travel agents (Fred Willard & Catherine O'Hara), a bumpkin (Parker Posey), and a car dealer. The show ends up becoming a big deal, and after Corky sends in a ton of proposals to New York, a Broadway producer sends down a man named Guffman to see if the show is ready for Broadway. Now, the way the movies goes about everything is quite unique. It builds a lot of tension with obviously idiotic characters who try to go about things in normal ways and fail. We get a lot of (fake) interviews with the townspeople, and it's amusing how they are astounded at small things, and how they have put so much faith in Corky. Waiting for Guffman is an amusing film. It's filled with amusing moments, but as a whole it isn't really what it could have been. It's nice to see a film that doesn't plow jokes into our heads every ten minutes, but the film is just a little off from what it could have been. The same director/writer/actor's other film: Best in Show is a far superior film, and perhaps its greatness makes Guffman worse just because he's done the same thing better.
Waiting for Guffman: ✰✰✰