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Waiting for Guffman

Waiting for Guffman

List Price: $19.97
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gentle humor that provides belly laughs galore
Review: After wiping the tears from my eyes after watching "Best in Show," I discovered this little-known gem. Much like an earlier review stated, I too could watch this movie every single day and laugh until my vision blurred. I cannot remember a movie in the past twenty years with as many quality laughs and subtle jokes as "Waiting for Guffman." Sadly it suffers from a horrible title, but after one viewing even that is digestable. Every single character in this masterpiece is outstanding--there are NO weak characters and NO weak moments. It is important to listen carefully for all the jibes and one-liners delivered, especially by Fred Willard. His runs are priceless. I have to finish this review quickly because I want to rush into the living room and watch it again for the umpteenth time this month. Highest rating possible!!! Thanks go out to Christopher Guest and his troupe of comedic masters for a job well done!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best of Christopher Guest
Review: This is the best of Christopher Guest's "mocumentaries." There are a few shots that don't fit the documentary style, but the movie is so incredibly funny you probably will not notice. After watching this movie with my daughter, we couldn't help but quote lines from the movie for weeks. The depiction of community theater is dead-on accurate ... the spacey, unfocused gaze of the actors in the performance-within-the-performance cannot be coached ... each of these cast members must have experienced community theater personally.

If you as demented as my daughter and I, you will rewind time and again to play one line that the character "Corky" utters: "Everybody dance!" You'll know what I mean when you hear it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You should feel lucky
Review: You should feel lucky to see this film.... In today's world of college romp sexual comedies, Waiting For Guffman is a comedy that is overlooked. The thing about this movie that differentiates it from the others is that you must possess a thinking brain to get it. The dialogue in this movie is top notch. It is hard to even explain the importance of this movie in today's cinematic arena. It must be said that Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy have not only made a statement with this film, but they set the bar at which all modern comedies must be measured.
The characters in this film are so extreme that you fall in love with all of them everytime you watch this movie. Corky St. Clair is without a doubt one of the funniest characters in movie history. Dr. Allan Pearl, and Ron and Shelia Albertson will have you laughing until the final act. Everyone else in this film are just icing on the cake. If I had one film to show to the world that they have'nt seen yet...this would be it. It is a gift for every movie lover.
American Pie is funny, so is Road Trip and Scary Movie, but this film blows all of those movies out of the water. Those movies are easy to make: get big breasted girls together with a bunch of swearing, coming of age men, and you have a hit movie. Easy formula. But Waiting For Guffman transcends that formula. This film strays from the norm in the fact that it establishes a character base and thrives on all of those character's quirks and nuances. It seems that for every character in this film, I know someone in real life that parrallels that character's personality. That, to me, makes THE perfect formula for a hit movie.
The DVD edition is a must have for all movie collectors. The directors commentary ADDS to the movie, when you know where they are coming from, it makes the movie that much funnier. The deleted scenes portion is like the dessert to a full course dinner. There are some scenes in there that you would swear are funnier than those that made the final cut.
In closing: If you are looking for a comedy that you can watch again and again, buy this movie. If you are looking for characters that you will come to know and love, buy this movie. If you are looking for ORIGINAL film making, buy this movie. I would put this movie up against todays "formula" movies time and time again and call Waiting For Guffman a winner hands down.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I Can Watch This Film Every Day ... And Still Laugh
Review: For whatever the reason, this quirky comedy managed to find a little space left in my big heart.

WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, a filmed mockumentary in the tradition of THIS IS SPINAL TAP, tells the story of a little town band of community theatre misfits and their misadventures to put together a homegrown musical to celebrate the town's 150th anniversary.

The script is CERTAINLY not for everyone, as it is largely improvised from situations provided to wonderfully talented method actors, but it is a real hoot.

Surprisingly, the commentary track on the DVD is a bit droll for such talented improvs as Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy; however, the deleted scenes are a wonderful addition to the story of this mismatched group of wannabe discovered talents.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Christopher Guest is great!
Review: I'm a big fan of Christopher Guest and Waiting for Guffman has to be his best movie. All the reviews are right: this film is hilarious with a crazy assortment of interesting characters. I just love Guest's brand of humor. Christopher Guest is a genius!
......

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious! A must for any community theatre buff!
Review: This movie has every single person represented that is involved in community theatre - from the drama queens to the complete nut-cases. It is hilarious from beginning to end - and is funnier each time you watch it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A comic gem worth savoring several times.
Review: Waiting for Guffman as the descriptions you should have read previous to this one indicate is a 'mock-u-mentary' type of film that focuses on the 250th celebration of the town of Blaine and the original musical play being staged as part of the celebrations.

Waiting for Guffman is that rare film that allows us to laugh
at ourselves or at least people we all know and have seen
or perhaps live next door to.

Christopher Guest has also created one of the most memorable
and wonderful characters for himself with Corky St. Clair -- the eternal optimist.

Guests' more recent "Best of Show" doesn't quite have the delicate balance that this film has in being affectionate toward it's character as opposed to just making fun of certain types of characters. In Guffman, there's more of an acceptance and affection for the characters. We truly believe they exist and are allowed to laugh usually with and yes sometimes at them. In Best of Show we are basically laughing at the pretty ridiculous cast of characters we watch.

Both are funny films of course, but Guffman is better because it delivers interesting characters not just caricatures. Guffman also refuses to go for the big belly laugh at the expense of
losing a character's authenticity. It's humor is gentler but even funnier because of it.

It's a film you'll enjoy watching several times and the DVD features a sporadically interesting feature commentary by Guest and former SCTV alumni Eugene Levy as well as slightly more than 30 minutes worth of deleted scenes. There's a wonderful sequence which includes a whole musical number cut from the film that is
a particular delight to anyone who enjoys the film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Genius that is Christopher Guest
Review: Even if this film came in rinky-dink mono and in fullscreen format, I would STILL recommend it. This film is THAT good. I appreciate its quirky sense of humor as well as Guests's performance as Corky St. Clair, a prissy, closet case of a Broadway outcast who gathers "local talent" for a show to commemmorate the bicentennial of Blaine, Missouri. Here's a film that shows that you don't have to resort to gags and gross-out humor to be funny. A keen, observant eye is usually all it takes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Spinal Tap for Theatre
Review: I bought this movie based on the reviews. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I was thinking that there would be more hilarity. Don't get me wrong, this is a funny movie, but it isn't Jim Carey. It is more like a cross between Spinal Tap and a string of Saturday Night Live skits (some of them uncofortable to watch). Most scenes, on their own, aren't particularly funny, but as a whole it has a sort of low key humor that is very appealing. Just don't expecting rolling on the floor, peeing your pants laughter. Tell yourself that you are more sophisticated than that!

Be sure to check out the two pages of deleted scenes -- some of them are really great.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Hock your jewels, save the money for stools!"
Review: There are few films that can make you laugh AND surprise you at the same time and that is the genius of Guest and "Waiting for Guffman." So much comedy today is the same annoying joke done over and over (it's usually about sex) that you see the puchline before it's even delivered. What makes "Guffman" so special are the surprises in every scene -- the cheesy dance moves in the musical, the revelation that the "surgery" Ron had was "penis reduction" and Corky joining the cast at the last minute. If you like predictable jokes about sex and toilet humor, stick with movies like "American Pie." If you like humor that magnifies the bizzare quirks of the everyman, then you will LOVE "Waiting for Guffman."


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