Off off off off off off off Broadway

Christopher Guest has a knack for lampooning wannabes, hacks, washed-up talents and struggling artists, as evidenced in his multiple mockumentaries. He showcases these deft skills quite impressively in his directorial debut, "Waiting for Guffman," which flew well under the radar on its initial release but has since become a cult classic that even spawned, ironically enough, an off-Broadway musical (!). Last evening, CineVerse evaluated this picture and came away with the following thoughts:

WHAT TOOK YOU BY SURPRISE ABOUT THIS FILM OR DEFIED YOUR EXPECTATIONS, GOOD OR BAD?

• This isn’t a laugh riot knee-slapper with a high yuks quotient. Instead, the comedy is more spaced out, often subtle or chuckle-inspiring versus guffaw-inducing. 
• Roger Ebert wrote: “Guffman'' is not as insistently funny (as “This is Spinal Tap”), perhaps because it has a sneaking fondness for its characters ("Spinal Tap'' ridiculed its heroes with true zeal). The movie doesn't bludgeon us with gags. It proceeds with a certain comic relentlessness from setup to payoff, and its deliberation is part of the fun (as when it takes its time explaining the exact nature of the travel agent's plastic surgery). Some of the better laughs are deadpan.” 
• The dialogue was often improvised, and that comic spontaneity benefits the movie. 
• There isn’t one lead star or comedian; director Christopher Guest builds his mockumentary comedies with a stock company ensemble cast that often includes himself, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Catherine O’Hara, and Fred Willard. 
• Unlike other comedies and mockumentaries, the tone of the humor is less sarcastic, caustic, offensive or outrageous. There are no body humor jokes, and we get no crude, lowbrow humor. And the characters are sympathetic and relatively down to earth. 
• Critic James Berardinelli wrote: “Where Spinal Tap, like many parodies, relied upon acid humor and vicious barbs to generate laughter, Waiting for Guffman is a much gentler creation. This movie can be considered an affectionate satire, because, while it pokes fun at small-town America and high school stage productions, it also offers up a heartfelt homage to them.” 
• On the other hand, you could make a case that Guest delights in humiliating his characters here. Bluray.com reviewer Michael Reuben wrote: “Guest specializes in characters so wrapped up in personal obsessions, and so lacking in self-awareness, that they can't see how ridiculous they've become. There's a streak of cruelty running through his work, as characters routinely reveal too much for their own good on camera, but in his later efforts.” 
• The title is a riff on the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting for Godot,” a name that makes you possibly think you’re about to see some pretentious, intellectual, elitist entertainment. 
• It feels like an insider’s story; the characters, as well as the filmmakers, convey a knowledge and passion for off-Broadway theatrical life and the politics of putting on a play. Put another way, although this is a fictional and exaggerated comedy, it feels credible and plausible. 

THEMES PRESENT IN THIS MOVIE

• Serendipity and parallelism: Corky is like the town’s founder in that both, it is suggested, follow the wrong path; the 150th anniversary musical is akin to the East-to-West expedition; the community thespians are like the earlier travelling settlers; and “California’s promise of riches has become Mork Guffman- Broadway producer and embodiment of a life outside of Blaine,” according to the blog Little Kicks Dance. 
• Redemption: Corky, a washed-up Broadway wannabe, is getting his second chance. 
• Small-town America can be both worthy of ridicule and charming thanks to its real everyday people. 
• Unrealized dreams, which is a hallmark theme of Guests’ films 

OTHER MOCKUMENTARIES, MOVIES, AND TV SHOWS THAT WAITING FOR GUFFMAN BRINGS TO MIND

• This is Spinal Tap 
• Best in Show 
• Take the Money and Run and Zelig 
• Borat 
• What We Do in the Shadows 
• The Producers, especially the “Springtime for Hitler” musical 
• The SCTV television program 

OTHER FILMS BY CHRISTOPHER GUEST

• Best in Show 
• A Mighty Wind 
• For Your Consideration