For Your Consideration (B or 3/4 stars)
Misguided actors crave the Academy Award in 'For Your Consideration', a comedy directed by Christopher Guest; written by Guest & Eugene Levy. On the set of a new indie film, Home for Purim, things start going crazy as superficial Oscar buzz sets the two leads, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara) & Victor Allen Miller (Harry Shearer) on cloud 9; they believe the hype! But their acting is awful, the movie they're in is awful, and the rest of the cast, crew, & studio execs are atrocious. It doesn't matter. If the 'World Wide Internet' says that there is 'Oscar buzz' ... there 'must' be Oscar buzz. Having not seen Waiting for Guffman & some other Guest films, I cannot compare them to this film; but I will say that I had a real good time watching 'FYC'.
The film opens and a haggard Marilyn is gazing at her boob tube, reciting some lines that Bette Davis is uttering during 'Jezebel'. Inspired, she drives to work, gets in her trailer, prepares her lines for Home for Purim, and a barrage of hysterical characters begin to surface. Ed Begley Jr. plays the very flamboyantly gay make-up artist, but he has a wife ... ah hah. Eugene Levy is Morley Orfkin, agent to the 'hot dog commercial guy'/star of 'Home for Purim', Victor Allen Miller (a hysterical Shearer); Morley tells Victor that he's his most important client, then interrupts him to take a phone call. Christopher Guest plays the zany director.
Jennifer Coolidge plays the rich producer (though, she hasn't a clue about producing); perfect. Bob Balaban & Michael McKean play completely inept screenwriters for Home for Purim. Nothing they write for the script is remotely good or recite-able. John Michael Higgins plays the Head of the studio. The one-liners he delivers are side-splittingly funny. Christopher Moynahan & Parker Posey play brother & sister as supporting roles in Home for Purim (her role is gay, but this brother/sister team are a couple off camera). Parker Posey is one of those actresses that all you have to do is look at her and you laugh. Though, she isn't funny in one scene where she recites her one-woman-show. But the list of cooky character actors goes on. Each one brings something funny to the table.
Home for Purim is supposed to be a drama where a dysfunctional family reunites for Purim, a Jewish holiday. It's a drama, but you can't stop laughing when they spew some very cliched Jewish term into nearly every sentence they speak. In this film-within-a-film, the actors are uninspired by this project, but need the work/$$. Only when Oscar buzz strikes the studio do they perk up, lose weight, self-tan, botox, etc. Their small world has changed. They even hit the Hollywood press junket circuit (all the Entertainment Tonights, Ebert & Roepers, Jay Leno's etc. ... and they're all hysterically spoofed. Who can't laugh at Jane Lynch & Fred Willard as they embellish Mary Hart & John Tesh-like characters?). What the cast can't realize is that there probably isn't a cat in Hell's chance that they'll be nominated anyway. The mass hysteria & delusion that overcomes the cast and crew is truly hilarious to see.
However, because 'For Your Consideration' is a simple story, & because it is short in length, & because you can guess what happens in the end, the resolution falls flat in the last 15 minutes. What was outrageously funny about the numerous Hollywood stereotypes and these people's preparation for validation and stardom, becomes too realistic, cliched, & a downer in the last Act. There are still some funny moments, but the wind is taken out of the sails, big time. It is interesting to see how the critics weigh in because this film is essentially about the absurdity that revolves around the entire film industry and the Academy Awards, themselves. And it's ironic that Catherine O'Hara may actually be nominated for some big awards down the road for her performance here. That woman's face and her ability to deliver lines with dryness & sarcasm is amazing.
The goofy ensemble cast makes the most of this endeavor and their ability to ad-lib & mock the all-important film industry is great. There is one scene where I don't think I stopped laughing for 2 minutes straight. I lurched forward in my seat many a time, clutching my stomach from laughter. And the other people in my theater were amused, too. This isn't a great movie, but it's a comedy that actually made me laugh ... that's a rarity.
The film opens and a haggard Marilyn is gazing at her boob tube, reciting some lines that Bette Davis is uttering during 'Jezebel'. Inspired, she drives to work, gets in her trailer, prepares her lines for Home for Purim, and a barrage of hysterical characters begin to surface. Ed Begley Jr. plays the very flamboyantly gay make-up artist, but he has a wife ... ah hah. Eugene Levy is Morley Orfkin, agent to the 'hot dog commercial guy'/star of 'Home for Purim', Victor Allen Miller (a hysterical Shearer); Morley tells Victor that he's his most important client, then interrupts him to take a phone call. Christopher Guest plays the zany director.
Jennifer Coolidge plays the rich producer (though, she hasn't a clue about producing); perfect. Bob Balaban & Michael McKean play completely inept screenwriters for Home for Purim. Nothing they write for the script is remotely good or recite-able. John Michael Higgins plays the Head of the studio. The one-liners he delivers are side-splittingly funny. Christopher Moynahan & Parker Posey play brother & sister as supporting roles in Home for Purim (her role is gay, but this brother/sister team are a couple off camera). Parker Posey is one of those actresses that all you have to do is look at her and you laugh. Though, she isn't funny in one scene where she recites her one-woman-show. But the list of cooky character actors goes on. Each one brings something funny to the table.
Home for Purim is supposed to be a drama where a dysfunctional family reunites for Purim, a Jewish holiday. It's a drama, but you can't stop laughing when they spew some very cliched Jewish term into nearly every sentence they speak. In this film-within-a-film, the actors are uninspired by this project, but need the work/$$. Only when Oscar buzz strikes the studio do they perk up, lose weight, self-tan, botox, etc. Their small world has changed. They even hit the Hollywood press junket circuit (all the Entertainment Tonights, Ebert & Roepers, Jay Leno's etc. ... and they're all hysterically spoofed. Who can't laugh at Jane Lynch & Fred Willard as they embellish Mary Hart & John Tesh-like characters?). What the cast can't realize is that there probably isn't a cat in Hell's chance that they'll be nominated anyway. The mass hysteria & delusion that overcomes the cast and crew is truly hilarious to see.
However, because 'For Your Consideration' is a simple story, & because it is short in length, & because you can guess what happens in the end, the resolution falls flat in the last 15 minutes. What was outrageously funny about the numerous Hollywood stereotypes and these people's preparation for validation and stardom, becomes too realistic, cliched, & a downer in the last Act. There are still some funny moments, but the wind is taken out of the sails, big time. It is interesting to see how the critics weigh in because this film is essentially about the absurdity that revolves around the entire film industry and the Academy Awards, themselves. And it's ironic that Catherine O'Hara may actually be nominated for some big awards down the road for her performance here. That woman's face and her ability to deliver lines with dryness & sarcasm is amazing.
The goofy ensemble cast makes the most of this endeavor and their ability to ad-lib & mock the all-important film industry is great. There is one scene where I don't think I stopped laughing for 2 minutes straight. I lurched forward in my seat many a time, clutching my stomach from laughter. And the other people in my theater were amused, too. This isn't a great movie, but it's a comedy that actually made me laugh ... that's a rarity.