For Your Consideration

Directed by Christopher Guest

Warner Independent Pictures

4 Stars



The kings of the “mockumentary” return with a more-polished product in this film industry spoof. While it is a very funny movie, “For Your Consideration” may still leave diehard Christopher Guest fans wanting more of his traditional spontaneity.

Writers and actors Guest and Eugene Levy—credited with other such independent film successes as “Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman,” and “A Mighty Wind”—have created a genre all their own.

In this collaboration, Guest and Levy rejoin their usual ensemble of a dozen or so outstanding character actors to give a farcical inside look at their own game, filmmaking. Combining improvisational dialogue and a loose plot-line, the “mockumentary” gives attention to both the obscure and mundane in a light that exceeds most comedic standards.

The film centers around the making of a small, low-budget picture entitled “Home for Purim” and the ensuing Oscar buzz that surrounds its actors. Hardly a single aspect of L.A.’s entertainment industry escapes lampooning: actors, directors, agents, publicists, makeup artists, morning talk shows, network entertainment reviews, internet movie sites, and even TRL are all poked fun at in one way or another.

Giving himself a more limited role as the director of “Purim,” Guest relies on mainstays like Jennifer Coolidge (best known as “Stifler’s Mom” of “American Pie” fame), Catherine O’Hara, and Parker Posey, among others, to keep the witty and often nonsensical humor at its height.

As the film’s producer, Coolidge gives her usual hysterical, Botox-enhanced performance. O’Hara—playing the role of the aging actress with emerging hopes of winning an Oscar—develops her character with the same manic disposition that so highlights her previous roles in Guest’s films. Posey, the young star in “Home for Purim,” continues to one-up herself as the champion of Guest’s improvisational styled humor.

Unlike previous films, “For Your Consideration” begins to stray from the truly informal, improvised feel of past “mockumentaries” and follows a more formal, planned plot. This will probably not make a difference to viewers unfamiliar with Guest, but it will make his fans want more of the ridiculous humor that arises from extended scenes of improvisation.

The filmmakers seem to focus too much on showing everyone in the entertainment industry, which for an 86-minute film only allows “For Your Consideration” to develop as a series of quick vignettes. The film is definitely still funny, but it lacks some of the longer scenes of dialogue found in previous Guest films that allow for deeper and more hysterical character development. They deal with typical Hollywood sellouts by selling out a little themselves.

The film is by no means a disappointment—its humor is up to Guest’s standard brilliance and it is a must for his fans. Only a Christopher Guest film could produce lines such as “It’s brighter than bloody Stephen Hawking in here” and “Dying is edgy, playing a lesbian is hard.”

Bottom Line: Despite the fact that “For Your Consideration” is slightly different from Christopher Guest’s usual “mockumentaries,” it is a memorable and necessary trip to the theater because of its ridiculous characters and raw humor.