Christopher Guest Movies

Over the last year or so I decided to view the Christopher Guest "mockumentaries."
I hear Christopher doesn't like that term, but it's an appropriate description for the comedies he's made that all share the behind-the-scenes, documentary film aspect.

I saw bits and pieces of some of these movies over the years, but never really appreciated how or why they were funny until I sat down and viewed them each in their entirety. They aren't necessarily laugh-out-loud type films, but rather, very wry and often quirky satire that delivers the occasional guffaw.

Thoughts? Favorites? Etc.?

I think the only movie that I've seen with Christopher Guest is The Princess Bride, which I love. (It's in my top ten favorites.)

I've heard that Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind are very funny, but I've never seen either of them.

Hi grab!

Guest himself has made and been in quite a few movies, but the ones that follow the documentary style are:
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Waiting For Guffman (1996)
Best In Show (2000)
A Mighty Wind (2003)
For Your Consideration (2006)

There's an HBO series called Family Tree created by Chris Guest that's supposed to follow that same style, but I haven't seen it.

I almost understand why some people don't appreciate some of these movies (because they don't follow the usual formula of overt humor or perhaps some people feel they are too "intellectual"), but most of them have the rare quality that you get more humor out of them each time you watch them. I don't tend to rewatch movies, but I saw A Mighty Wind a couple or three times (with a couple year intervals between each viewing) and each time it was funnier than I remembered... or I was catching a lot that I missed the previous times.

Another thing I like about them is they're fairly "clean." At the same time they have a lot of coy, sexually "suggestive" humor in them, but they rely more on suggestion than on overt vulgarity or bathroom humor.

I just watched For Your Consideration tonight, but unfortunately, I'd rank it last on the list as far as humor goes.

Surprisingly, all the music performed in A Mighty Wind is really good (who knew Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara could really sing?) despite it being spoofed on real folk music. And I'd say the single, most memorable comedic performance is the one given by Fred Willard as the non-sequitur, dog show commentator in Best In Show! (but that's a tough choice since there are so many memorable performances.)

I've never even heard of the HBO series "Family Tree".

I've heard of all of the movies that you listed, but the only ones that I've heard anything good about are This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and A Mighty Wind (2003).

I've heard the titles of the movies Waiting For Guffman (1996) and Best In Show (2000), but I don't know anything about them.

I think I have the DVD of For Your Consideration (2006), but I heard that it wasn't very good, so I have no interest in seeing it. (I bought it a garage sale very cheap, but when I got home and read about it, the reviews weren't very good, so I just put it on the shelf with the rest of the extra DVDs.)

Who the hell is Captain Steel?!?!?

Somebody better demote your ass. I'm the only Captain S. around here.

Captain Steel is a good friend of mine. Be nice to him.

I also never heard of Family Tree until just now because I went to look up Chris Guest on Wiki.

I agree that it might be a good idea to pass on For Your Consideration (at least until you've seen the others... or, then again, watch it first and it will make all the rest seem better!) It's mostly about second rate actors putting all their hopes into rumors about Oscar nominations surrounding the film they're currently working on.

The rest are wonderful... it's hard to put Spinal Tap in the group because it came much earlier and didn't have what became quite the same ensemble as the others. Still it's a hilarious movie spoof about a heavy metal rock band. It became the cult comedy of the 80's!

Waiting for Guffman is about a local troupe of amateur actors in a small town putting on a play, with Guest as their extremely flamboyant director. (The Guffman they're waiting for is a big time critic / talent scout who is supposed to come see their show).

Best in Show is about a national dog show (or really about all the dogs' hilarious owners).

A Mightly Wind is about the legends of Folk Music (both the original ones and their modern day successors) coming together for a TV special (kind of like those PBS programs where they bring a bunch of old Doo Wop stars together for a music fest).

If you view any in the future, gb, let me know your impressions.
Good night & enjoy!

They sound like fun movies. I'll put all four of them, (except For Your Consideration), on my watchlist. The dog show one sounds like it could be fun, and if Waiting for Guffman is anything like Noises Off, that could be very funny too.

I'll let you know after I watch them, but it may be a while because the Comedy Hall of Fame is starting soon, and that will put about 10-15 movies right at the top of my watchlist.

Good Night.

He's actually the name of a comic character I created when I was a kid. I've created a lot of comic characters. I originally came up with the name of "Iron Man" for him, but then one of my brothers showed me some comic book with that character's name... so I changed mine to "Captain Steel." Terribly cliched, I know. I don't know how many of my character's names I've had to change because I later came to find out that name was already in use.

Now... "Captain Spaulding"? I've seen the movies featuring that character... and I'm not talking about the Groucho Marx version! (shudder)

That sounds about right.

A Mighty Wind is one of my all time favorite movies.

It's not really a laugh out loud comedy, just a giggle and smirk here and there, but it's really well made. I love the way they poke fun folk music, but do so in a loving way and the soundtrack is fantastic. I especially liked the dynamic between Catherine O'hara and Eugene Levy as Mitch and Mickey. Burn-out Mitch is my favorite character of the bunch.

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I love the Christopher Guest rep company...Guest first caught my eye when he almost stole This is Spinal Tap from the rest of the cast. I don't consider that film his because Rob Reiner directed it, but of the films that were created by Guest, my favorite is For Your Consideration and I must give shout-outs to Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman,and A Mighty Wind.

Agreed. This was a stand out performance by Eugene Levy. The character of Mitch is so weird & understated that you forget you're watching Levy who is so recognizable as being larger than life & outspoken from other films. And yes, the music in the film is really great despite the fact that it was all made as a spoof of folk tunes.

It's neat how many of the same people play such different characters in the Guest films.

I read a comment about how Chris Guest is a chameleon... and it's true. He's almost unrecognizable from one character to the next. I loved his character from A Mighty Wind (and the way he talked) which was an amalgam of several famous folk singers. (Anyone remember his small dramatic role as a military doctor in A Few Good Men?)

Not many people realize it, but Guest's group "The Folksmen" (based on the Kingston Trio) from A Mighty Wind were the same group as Spinal Tap! (and this, from IMDB: In an early-'90s, and again in late 90's/ early 2000's, Spinal Tap tour, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest opened for themselves as The Folksmen and were booed during the first act, as people did not know or cared that the two bands had the same musicians. )

And yes, Reiner's direction is another good reason why Spinal Tap isn't really part of the other group of films despite Guest, McKean & Shearer being in it and it being a mockumentary. It's got a different feel from the one that somehow ties the other four together, but it's still a great satire in its own right.

I watched "Family Tree". It is a good show. It is the kind of thing that a person can enjoy, but it is going to be appreciated more by a person who understands what the character is going through (in this case, genealogical research and meeting members of the family that he never knew existed before).


I do enjoy his movies a lot, though.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Cool! I'm going to check it out!

I don't like to watch stuff on TV that you have to "follow," (the only thing I've been "following" for a while is Walking Dead, and that's only because I read the comics & wanted to see how they handled the show) so I avoid most series, but since I like Guest's stuff, I'll give this a shot.

Update: Wow... the first episode of Family Tree was almost enough to make me not want to see more (but you have to give things a chance). I didn't laugh until the Loch Ness monster discussion.

But the 2nd episode was much more entertaining. That's as far as I got for now. I'll continue watching since Fred Willard is supposed to show up.

I think I spotted the first continued character from another Christopher Guest movie... in For Your Consideration there is a weather girl on a morning talk show who uses a monkey puppet to say things she's apparently too polite to say on her own. Same actress is here in Family Tree with the monkey playing Bea Chadwick. Since she's doing the same shtick with the puppet, I'm assuming she's supposed to be the same character.

I watched the 8 episodes of Family Tree this past week. At times it's hard to tell it's a Chris Guest venture (maybe because of the British setting in the beginning), but at other times it has the Guest feel all over it, especially as more & more of Guest's usual ensemble show up.(Sadly, none of the SCTV alumni turn up in the show... but maybe if there's a second season?)

It's somewhat of a "slow" show, and in typical Guest fashion it's not a laugh fest, but every once in a while will make you burst out at some clever or sarcastic comment. Guest himself truly is a chameleon - when he showed up in this series it took me a minute to realize it was him.

But I have to say what really won me over was Nina Conti! I felt like I wanted the whole show to be about her character of Bea Chadwick and Monkey. She was, hands down, the most interesting character, especially when they'd emphasize that beneath her pleasant exterior, she had some true psychological problems (thus her need for Monk). I loved Monkey's attitude, comments & voice.

It hearkened back to the old TV series Soap which had one character who carried a puppet around, and who was perfectly fine as long as he had his wise-cracking puppet, but would become totally unglued in he didn't have the puppet.

You really should give For Your Consideration a chance.