Review – For Your Consideration

It breaks my heart to say it, but this movie stunk. I loved Waiting for Guffman. I also enjoyed Best in Show (though not quite as much). However, the downward trend cemented by A Mighty Wind culminates here. The Guest set applies their talents to the tale of the cast of a small, inept production. Rumor circulates that critical acclaim may attach, and hilarity is supposed to ensue. It worked in Guffman. Part of why it doesn’t work here is that the setting has been shifted from small-town Missouri to Los Angeles. Normally I’d be greatly in favor of mocking Hollywood folk rather than Midwestern rustics. However, here it robs the story of whatever charm it might otherwise have had. Above and beyond that, the fatal flaw is that it just isn’t funny. The gags almost universally fall flat. The performers seem to know it, too; just about everyone looks like they’re as tired of telling the jokes as we are of listening to them. If this is indeed the latest point on an arc of dreadfulness, I shudder to think what the next step might lead to. Let’s hope we never find out. Wish I’d skipped it