For Your Consideration

Plot synopsis:
Character actress Marilyn Hack (O'Hara), despite having been in the entertainment industry for 30 years, is best known for playing a blind prostitute in a film from the late 1980s. Victor Allen Miller (Shearer) is also an acting veteran who is known to the public as the hot-dog wearing mascot for a kosher line of frankfurters. Together they are cast in a new low-budget film called Home for Purim as the patriarch and dying matriarch of a Southern U.S. Jewish family in the 1940s.
A newcomer ingenue, Callie Webb (Posey), plays their lesbian daughter, who has come home along with her girlfriend (Rachael Harris). Rounding out the cast is Brian Chubb (Christopher Moynihan), playing Webb's brother who has returned home from the Navy. The family reunites in time to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Home for Purim's cast and crew are in the process of making what appears to be a cheap melodrama. The director (Guest) is constantly adding bizarre camera shots and acting notes. The producer (Coolidge), heiress to a diaper service, dresses flamboyantly but doesn't seem to know much about managing a film beyond paying for expenses. The two writers (Balaban and McKean) are at odds with the director, seeing their script mash together Southern genteel with out-of-place Jewish references and words.
The film-within-a-film's plot centers around the daughter's confession of her lesbianism as her mother gets nearer to death and the family celebrates an awkward Purim.
Because of an off-hand remark that turns into a full-blown rumor, Oscar buzz begins around all of the cast (with the exception of Chubb). Each begins obsessing about the award potential in his or her own way.
Hack pretends not to care while secretly pining for the award. Miller begins to demand a higher salary and push his agent (Levy) for more dignified work. Webb breaks up with Chubb (her boyfriend), claiming he is not being supportive. He is virtually left in the dark. The obnoxious entertainment news program Hollywood Now and its hosts (Willard and Lynch) fuel the awards-season buzz, even coming to the set to interview the cast.
At this point, studio executives butt in and force the writers to make script changes, feeling the film is "too Jewish." It is retitled Home for Thanksgiving. Despite the changes, the Oscar buzz intensifies to the point where Hack, Miller, and Webb are convinced they will be nominated for Academy Awards. An inept publicist, Corey Taft (Higgins), becomes very excited about the film's word of mouth, even though he only has a vague idea of what the Internet is.
They all begin to do major press appearances for the film. These are often embarrassing, both for the actors and the movie audience. Miller appears on a hip-hop teen show called Chillaxin' in youthful attire with capped teeth, a tan, and dyed blonde hair. Hack gets breast implants and extensive plastic surgery to the point where her face is comically ecstatic. Callie goes on an L.A. shock-jock radio show, only to field questions about topless scenes rather than her performance. All rise early in the morning for the televised announcement of the Oscar nominees, although Miller doesn't even own a TV.
Ultimately the only person nominated for an award is Chubb, the one person for whom there was no buzz at all. (He sleeps in on the morning of the announcement of the nominations.) Miller goes back to auditioning for food commercials and other infomercials for useless products. Webb revives her failed one-woman show, No Penis Intended. Hack (after a drunken, explosive rant on Hollywood Now) becomes an acting teacher and seems uncomfortably at peace with her mediocre career.

Tags: satire

Review:
It is a brave, and ultimately, a rewarding choice for a director who has built his impeccable reputation on the strength of his mockumentaries.Like its predecessors Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration is largely improvised, and reunites the same winning cast.
Furthermore, having such recognizable actors as Claire Forlani and particularly Sandra Oh show up for bit parts in For Your Consideration is more distracting than anything, and breaks the illusion of the self-contained world that worked so nicely in Guest's previous efforts.Despite all of the comedic talent on display however, this is Catherine O'Hara's show, and she more than delivers in her role as fading screen star Marilyn Hack.
If, as Guest insists, this film is not intended as a satire of Hollywood but is rather the tragicomic tale of what happens to someone when they are told that they deserve an award, we should be spending less time on all the Hollywood in-jokes and parodies, and more time with the characters themselves.We don't learn quite enough about our main characters  those portrayed by Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, and Parker Posey  to really understand how monumental it is for them to be caught up in the Oscar hype.
Granted, you either like his movies or not, but as someone who loved Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and Mighty Wind equally, I was in no way disappointed by For Your Consideration.Maybe some of the humor here is easier to appreciate if you're Jewish, but that can't account for more than 5% of the jokes, and all of the actors were great.
The ending of the movie was truer than that of his previous films, and the ever expanding cast of Guest players made the viewing experience more fun than in the past (Sandra Oh, Ricky Gervais etc.).My theory is that it's hard to approach a new Christopher Guest movie without justifiably expecting a lot, and great expectations often lead to disappointment.
The satire seemed to me to be to be quite precise - particularly in its analysis of the average actor's life - which is a lot more like "For Your Consideration" or Ricky Gervais's brilliant "The Extras" than anything you're likely to see on Entertainment Tonight that is for sure.Having studied method acting over several years (a long time ago), and having worked as an extra at different low points in my life (never ever again), I have to say that I laughed till I cried.
I have to admit I miss some of this dynamic because the on-camera realism resulted in some of the funniest moments in the previous films.Gratefully, what has been kept from his other films is Guest's stellar ensemble company of comic actors, and this time an even larger cast has been gathered, none of whom disappoint in this outing.
As Callie, Parker Posey is more in reactive mode here, though she has a funny Sandra Bernhard-like bit with her character's one-woman show, "No Penis Intended".Everyone else gets less screen time, but they all provide memorably riotous contributions  Guest as Berman, Levy as Morley, Jennifer Coolidge as clueless producer Whitney Taylor Brown, John Michael Higgins as bromide-spouting publicist Corey Taft, Don Lake and Michael Hitchcock as the Love It/Hate It movie critics, Michael McKean and Bob Balaban as the academic screenwriters, Ed Begley Jr. as Marilyn's fey hairdresser (and biggest fan), Ricky Gervais as the oily studio honcho, and best of all, as the entertainment TV co-hosts, Fred Willard as mohawk-moussed Chuck Porter and Jane Lynch as gam-showcasing Mary Hart-knockoff Cindy Martin.
More like "A Mighty Wind" with its dramatic undercurrents, this one is not as laugh-out-loud as "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show", but it shows a continuing maturation in Guest's film-making technique that is most welcome..
This is not meant to be a Great panoramic epic, this is good clean hilarity from some of our favorite actors.If you are a fan of "Best in Show", Waiting for Guffman etc, or you just want to get to know these gifted actors, DO go see this film, nap before you go so you can be happy and rested and hear the inside jokes that spark the guffaws heard throughout the theater.
In an impressive string of wonderful mockumentary farces over the past few years, guiding lights Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, and their brilliant comedic acting ensemble, have joyfully savaged the self-important cultural "worlds" of small town amateur theater ("Waiting for Guffman"), dog shows ("Best in Show") and folk music ("A Mighty Wind").But a winning formula can't go on forever unchanged, nor should we expect it to.
I never thought the day would come when I would regard a comedy written by David Mamet as superior to work by Guest & Levy, but here's a tip: if you want to see a good send-up of movie making, try Mamet's 2000 film, "State and Main." My grades: 6.5/10 (low B) (Seen on 11/15/06).
While the film pokes fun at these people, it also pokes fun at their aspirations, as if it is laughing down at them and wants us to join in which leaves a bitter aftertaste that isn't particularly pleasant.Guest's big stumbling block is that, for his Oscar buzz strand to work, the actors in the film within a film have to be reasonably good so, in order to provide himself with a comedy backdrop, he has no choice but to make the film itself a joke that would never get green-lighted in the real world.
Christopher Guest has quite the resume and reputation for his quirky, awkward satirical mockumentaries, but "For Your Consideration" simply doesn't measure up with the rest.It's hard not to judge "Consideration" by its predecessors such as "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." With the same cast, the same satirical (though not full out mockumentary) style, it simply asks for that and it doesn't succeed the way those movies do.
This seemed like Guest made a film to spoof the industry, but instead created a dismal look at how comedy can self destruct, even with your regulars trying to make us laugh.Guest announced in 2005 that he would stop making the "mockumentary" because he thought they were not funny any longer.
Comedy was horrible, the story was non-existent, and the actors just seemed used and tired of the time, place, and story.One other aspect that bewildered me, is anyone else tired of the sad, unsung heroes of Christopher Guest's films seeming like they are being stepped on each minute of the feature.
It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as "Best in Show" (few movies are) but I liked it better than "Mighty Wind," which I also liked.Christopher Guest's usual crew is in its usual fine form.
His partner in this movie, Jane Lynch, is all but wasted (so too are Michael McKean and Bob Balaban, who really have nothing to do).Harry Shearer and Catherine O'Hara are sad-sack Z-list actors who transform themselves (hideously) when they find out they might be considered for Oscars for 'Home for Purim'.
Christopher Guest is a creative spirit who has been able to make some very funny films like 'Best In Show' where his technique of avoiding a script by giving his cast of actors an outline as matrix for a scene, letting them ad lib the idea a couple of times, then accepting the second or third take as the final product - pasting all the bits together in the edit.
Or to quote a famous advertisement 'Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't'.For this viewer this mocumentary about a very bad film company churning out a very bad film with a rather pitiful cast of actors falling victim to Internet rumors that an Oscar is in the air works as a funny idea and social comment for about the first half four and then sadly falls apart painfully as it proceeds to its wholly predictable end.
Yes, there are funny moments, but the further the movie plods the less funny the moments become and ultimately the result of the 'rumor of greatness' shows us the shallow lives of the sad sack troupe of actors and producers and writers that started out with a pretty awful idea.Guest usually pulls these capers off nicely, but perhaps with such films as 'The Producers' musical on the screens simultaneously the joke is stale.
I'm one of Christopher Guest's biggest fans, having LOVED Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman...but the things that made each of those movies so wonderful -- quirky characters sharing their lives with the camera -- seem to be absent here.
The story told is also possibly a story worth telling, but it has too much of the "Oh." panache from the British version of The Office and not enough of the laugh-out-loud moments.I can't wait to see Mr. Guest's future films (not to mention look up some of his back catalog!), as well as each of the great cast: Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Harry Shearer, and everyone else.
For Your Consideration is from director and co-writer Christopher Guest who has given us such great films as Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and he also co-wrote the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. After being a fan of his works and all the films I just mentioned, I must admit that I was very disappointed with this movie.
All of this also means huge potential for laughs and jabs should the entire process of an actor's performance on it's way to an Oscar nomination be parodied, especially if it is to be parodied by writers, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, of BEST IN SHOW and WAITING FOR GUFFMAN fame.
Guest himself plays Jay Berman, the director of the small Hollywood production, "Home for Purim." The film stars veteran film actress, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), as a mother nearing her death whose family has come home for the Jewish holiday.
"Home for Purim" has some delicious moments, but for the most part, this is one of the weaker efforts by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy.The best part of the movie for me is the farcical parody of "Entertainment Tonight", played by Willard and Jane Lynch.
What also gets ground up and spit out in the process is any hope one might have that For Your Consideration will bring about the same laughs of Christopher Guest and Company's previous efforts like WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, MIGHTY WIND, and BEST IN SHOW.For Your Consideration is a stockpile of stock jokes and characters who wrestle with dilemma's that anyone outside the 310 or 818 area codes might be hard pressed to give a s**t about.
Among the people involved are the director, played by Guest himself, who sometimes directs a scene with a pastrami sandwich in hand; O'Hara, a self-conscious professional who becomes much more the former when she finds out a rumor of Oscar buzz; Shearer as Victor Allan Miller, a stage pro who is possibly going to have to turn to commercials via his insistent agent (Levy) if this doesn't go too big; Calie Webb (Parker Posey), a young professional comedienne-turned-serious actress is also set afire by the 'buzz'; and Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins), an agent or other sort like that who has to always bring up his Native American background.There's laughs that come and go with the characters, some more than others (Ed Begley Jr, who was uproarious as the Swedish Jewish guy in Mighty Wind, is still great here as a make-up artist), but probably none more consistently and hilariously from Fred Willard.
Or for the last chunk of the film, where through the awards buzz the sensitive Marilyn Hack (O'Hara) gets a botox injection and boob-job, which incites so much great comedic moments.Though what's interesting is how at times some of the comedy works best because its more natural, and other times more based on the performers.
It was all that I had thought  but in parts the movie was enjoyable because it was trying to make fun of the Oscars and the run of a movie to awards.The story is about a production crew who is making a film "Home for Purim" and all the actors and actresses in the cast are typically weird characters whom we would see and laugh.
If you enjoy Christopher Guest's style of having simple set-ups and putting wacky characters in a bound-to-go-wrong situation, you are definitely going to enjoy this film.This is not quite at the level of humor that Guest's masterpiece 2001's "Best in Show" reached, but I can firmly state that it is funnier than his two other works , 2003's "Waiting for Guffman" and 1996's "A Mighty Wind".
Two faded show business veterans are cast in a low-budget film called "Home For Purim", later retitled "Home For Thanksgiving"; once awards season rolls around, an online comment praising character actress Marilyn Hack's performance as Oscar-worthy starts a buzz in Hollywood that several actors in the cast might also be nominated.
Co-written by Eugene Levy, FYC is supposed to be a film that skewers Hollywood's award-ceremony-industrial complex, and it does, but it is also Guest's most character-focused film.O'Hara and Shearer portray veteran actors of less than distinguished service who find 'one last great chance' to earn the admiration of their peers once they are cast as leads in an ill-starred, oft- rewritten 'small' film directed by the estimable Jay Berman (Guest), "Home for Purim."The rest of the ever-expanding players in Guest's company of parodic itinerants, from Ed Begley, Jr. to Bob Balaban, to Jane Lynch and Michael McKean, surround and fill in the rest of "Purim's" cast, crew, publicists, grips, accountants, celebrity interviewers, security guards, and gawkers.
And just about every Christopher Guest fan has to associate him with "This Is Spinal Tap." How could anyone possibly leave this one out when speaking of cult classic films?Anyway, I was also disappointed with "For Your Consideration." I hope that he does redeem himself with a new film that's at the level of some of his great ones: "Spinal Tap," "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind.".
as well as what actually happens.If you are familiar with other Christopher Guest movies, this is probably his best effort since Spinal Tap. For everyone else, if you think you might enjoy hearing embarrassingly honest dialog coupled with a decent story, you'll probably like this..
From the people who brought us BEST IN SHOW, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, and A MIGHTY WIND, comes FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, an extremely smart and deliciously funny satire that skewers Hollywood and more specifically, "the business of show business." The razor-sharp screenplay by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy centers on the production of a movie called "Home for Purim", the story of a family gathering for this Jewish Holiday during WWII who are rocked by the arrival of the daughter with her lesbian lover.
Fans of Christopher Guest's last three movies (Waiting for Guffman, Best In Show, and A Mighty Wind) will get caught off guard by this one, which is not a mockumentary.
Christoper Guest and his regular gang have made some hugely funny movies, beginning with "This is Spinal Tap" continuing through "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show," "A Mighty Wind" (ratting off the ones I remember at the moment) and now "For Your Consideration." Guest is known for his off-beat, lop-sided, Saturday-Night-Live sense of humor and the dialog often improvised by the actors with whom he regularly works.
This isn't his best work, but the premise is wonderful: A movie to be called "Home for Purim" (which becomes "Home for Thanksgiving" to appeal to a wider, non-Jewish audience)and cast members led to believe that they might win an Oscar for their roles in the film.
These actors SING.Parker Posey has simply grown-exponentially-as a great and fine actress.John Michael Higgins is a true and fine improvisational actor.Jane Lynch is absolutely beautiful and beautifully sarcastic.Fred Willard is a complete-and accomplished- clown.This is a complex movie-an actor's movie-which-ultimately-pays off.Ed Begley is wonderful.The whole cast is fine.The melodrama-Home For Purim-is so annoying I wanted to just chuck the whole movie-and regret the waste of all these fine actors.You have to give this movie a chance.The British lady-Nina Conti- with the monkey-puppet is both annoying and ultimately riveting-especially on the DVD outtake.Carrie Aizley and Ricky Gervais share a true acting moment -on the DVD-that is special.In baseball terms-you put a bunch of home run hitters into the line-up, and great things happen.This is ultimately Christopher Guest's most complex exploration of improv,and Chris hits a home-run.The experiment is a success.God bless you Chris!.
Basically, if you enjoy Christopher Guest's style of having simple set-ups and putting wacky characters in a bound-to-go-wrong situation, you are definitely going to enjoy this film.This is not quite at the level of humor that his masterpiece "Best in Show" reached, but I can firmly state that it is funnier than his other two works, which are "Waiting for Guffman" and "A Mighty Wind." It is not aimed to be grand comedy with hilarious slapstick humor (for it has none of that), but for a great bit of irony and a mockery of a form of American culture, "For Your Consideration" is all that you could ask for.
(This characterization is also the subject of the best line in the film, as Catherine O'Hara tells Shearer, "You play the actor very well.") Overall, it's tough to read Christopher Guest's "For Your Consideration" as anything other than a satire-by-numbers by a director still trying to find his way and possibly fearing that his past success has come only because of his much-liked troupe of improv actors.
It was much better than we expected.This film is way more sophisticated than the other comedies done by this group (movies like Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, and A Mighty Wind).