Discuss Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Mighty Wind, the classic Rob Reiner-directed Spinal Tap and the new one, For Your Consideration.

I just saw FYC, and I don't think it was as good as the others. A Mighty Wind was an instant classic, but this one is just a little uneven in its overall plot and main characters. The best Guest films seem to be the ones where Eugene Levy does the heavy lifting, IMO. In FYC, it was mostly Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, and Parker Posey, and the latter two didn't really pull it off. Perhaps their characters were underwritten.

The best moments were the small ones and the bit parts, like that ventriloquist weatherwoman and her monkey. Google "Nina and Monk", they're hilarious. I also liked the Siskel and Ebert spoof. Ricky Gervais played a very "Brentish" character. I'd like to see him play a different sort of character in a future Guest movie.

Although I do like him, I almost had too much Levy in A Mighty Wind and didn't really enjoy his performance and it lessened my liking the movie as a whole. Catherine O'Hara is probably my favorite part of his troupe, and I wish she'd been nominated for FYC. She was terrific, and I especially enjoyed her transition to post-stardom, post-surgery freak. It's a shame how realistic that seems (Faye Dunaway, Meg Ryan, countless others) and was one of the few times in the movie when, although exaggerated for comedic effect, something still felt resonant.

Jennifer Coolidge had a few funny bits but she - or Guest, i don't know - seem to try to make her a little too outrageous just for the sake of it (her funniest bit in a Guest film was 'we both love soup' and that was very low-key). I liked the Jane Lynch/Fred Willard ET spoof, too. But overall it was disappointing and I agree that Parker Posey and a couple of others were underwritten. A big problem was that the movie they were making was just not remotely believable as Oscar bait, let alone a film being made in 2007. I understand that it's another exaggerated bit but I think there are many films being made desperate for Oscar attention that could be spoofed and still feel as though they could really be coming out now.

My favorite is still Best in Show.

Dude I totally agree with your general assessment, and with your appreciation for the ventriloquist weatherlady and her monkey. In fact I uploaded clips of them from the film to share with a puppeteer friend.... and you:

Nina Conti & Monk in FYC

For Your Consideration just depressed me. I don't know why.