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This is a true story. I saw this in the theaters at an art house cinema with a buddy. Most of the film - we'd look at each other out of boredom and disgust because this thing was going nowhere fast! Then a scene came on with aliens landing on earth and exclaiming the words"BO-RING! BO-RING!" and my buddy and I started losing it, totally cracking up in our seats. It kind of won us over because this quick scene summed up our experience watching this film. About 30 mins later, out at the parking lot, as I got into his Mazda Protege, I realized something very strange: I liked the film. How did this happen? This has never happened before. This is not natural. I can think for myself. So how do I go from hating a film so much while watching it to absolutely being entranced by it moments after it has ended?
Waiting for Guffman is one of those pictures, the only picture, that has ever had that effect on me. I watched it again some years later to reassess. It was funnier. I got it. I watched it with different eyes. The characters are clueless and pretentious and obnoxious. I'd never seen anything like this before. This was an invention of cinema. Christopher Guest had created something that had never been done before, and it was glorious, but required a twist of fate to catch on to it. That twist was laughing at a scene that summed up how awful I thought it was. It ultimately won me over. And my friend. I am still convinced to this day that anyone who had the good sense to see this film as it was - was informed by industry force and writing, which clued them in to how to accept this new brand of film. The Mock-u-mentary. Sure, it'd been done with This is Spinal Tap, but that film was nothing like this. Nothing.
The characters are inflammed with passion and silliness. There's a heart underneath this picture. Local theater tries to win over an important NYC manager and goes through their own personal boot camp to pull it off to impress, in hopes to make it to "Broadway". Perfect.
I really loved this movie. It's hilarious but you have to listen to the improvisations of the actors and not zone out to their "matter-of-factly" way of presenting their dialog to truly appreciate the absurdity of it all.
Waiting for Guffman (1997)
Director: Christopher Guest
Director: Christopher Guest
This is a true story. I saw this in the theaters at an art house cinema with a buddy. Most of the film - we'd look at each other out of boredom and disgust because this thing was going nowhere fast! Then a scene came on with aliens landing on earth and exclaiming the words"BO-RING! BO-RING!" and my buddy and I started losing it, totally cracking up in our seats. It kind of won us over because this quick scene summed up our experience watching this film. About 30 mins later, out at the parking lot, as I got into his Mazda Protege, I realized something very strange: I liked the film. How did this happen? This has never happened before. This is not natural. I can think for myself. So how do I go from hating a film so much while watching it to absolutely being entranced by it moments after it has ended?
Waiting for Guffman is one of those pictures, the only picture, that has ever had that effect on me. I watched it again some years later to reassess. It was funnier. I got it. I watched it with different eyes. The characters are clueless and pretentious and obnoxious. I'd never seen anything like this before. This was an invention of cinema. Christopher Guest had created something that had never been done before, and it was glorious, but required a twist of fate to catch on to it. That twist was laughing at a scene that summed up how awful I thought it was. It ultimately won me over. And my friend. I am still convinced to this day that anyone who had the good sense to see this film as it was - was informed by industry force and writing, which clued them in to how to accept this new brand of film. The Mock-u-mentary. Sure, it'd been done with This is Spinal Tap, but that film was nothing like this. Nothing.
The characters are inflammed with passion and silliness. There's a heart underneath this picture. Local theater tries to win over an important NYC manager and goes through their own personal boot camp to pull it off to impress, in hopes to make it to "Broadway". Perfect.
I really loved this movie. It's hilarious but you have to listen to the improvisations of the actors and not zone out to their "matter-of-factly" way of presenting their dialog to truly appreciate the absurdity of it all.