As an undergraduate Theater major at the University of Maryland, I heard about Waiting For Guffman through friends. I reluctantly watched the movie, and it almost instantly became one of my favorites.

If you have ever been involved in a school show, community theater, dinner theater, or even professional theater, you will instantly relate the the zany cast of characters. My wife, who has no theater experience, is not a big fan of the movie and claims that she doesn't "get it."

The movie is set up as a documentary, but this MOCKumentary is anything but. The story follows a very "colorful" director, Corky St. Claire (Christopher Guest, who also directed and co-wrote), as a has-been theater director that relocated to a small mid-west town after failing to make it in New York. Corky is commissioned to write and direct a musical as a tribute to the small fictional midwest town of Blaine, Missouri, in which he resides, for the 150th Anniversary of its founding. He begins assembling the cast of local residents for his show, which is cleverly titled Red, White, and Blaine, and we quickly find out that while talent is completely non-existent in this town, personality is in full supply. Through the audition process and rehearsals, we get to know this great cast of well-known actors/improvisors (and through interviews I've read, much of the script was improvised) including: Eugene Levy (the local dentist, and co-writer of the movie), Parker Posey (a Dairy Queen worker), and Fred Williard and Catherine O'Hara as a married couple who are travel agents and self-proclaimed "professional actors." After Corkey announces that he has invited Mr. Guffman, a well known Broadway producer, to attend the show and potentially take it to New York, all hell breaks loose.

Blaine is locally known as the "foot stool capital of the world," which Corkey incorporates into a musical number. His show also chronicals other major events in the towns history such as a visit by President McKinley and a UFO abduction, and, in one of the movie's more hilarious moves, throws Corky on stage to sing a passionate love song with a girl (he is the furthest thing from masculine you can imagine)...Genius comedy! Much of the humor in the movie is dry and "smart" and the movie treats itself as a true documentary in that it doesn't "tell you" where the jokes are. But you will find them when you hear lines such as when one characters says that residents of Blaine are "bi-coastal if you consider the Mississippi River one of the coasts," and when another gives advice to the cast by telling them if they forget a line "if there's an empty space, just fill it with a line, that's what I like to do... Even if it's from another show, ya know?", you will be rolling! This movie is chock-full of these one-liners.

Another of my favorite quotes is when Corky tells the cast that he accepts the challenge that this show presents for him: "It's like in the olden days, in the... days of France, when men would slap each other with their gloves... say, y'know...'D'Artagnan!'... y'know, 'how dare you talk to me like that, you!,' and then... smack 'em!"

This is one of those laugh-out-loud movies that you'll love and you will want to recommend to friends. From the musical number "Nothing Ever Happens On Mars," to when the obviously-gay director mentions shopping for his "wife Bonnie," you'll want to watch this over again to catch all the subtle hilarities. When Corky, the director, yells at the town council and calls them all "bastard people!", then tells another "I hate you...and your a$$...face!" you'll be begging for more!

My only negative comment (which is actually a compliment) is that it only lasts for an hour and a half, however the DVD does have ample extra material by way of Deleted Scenes. To that note, be sure to watch the closing credits for more laughs. Enjoy the movie, watch it with friends, and it will make your own theatrical achievements seem more grand than they are!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older