A Review of Christopher Guest's Films

Movies have the magical effect of enhancing the viewers mood. It would for example defeat the purpose to watch a comedy, if you weren't at least on a subconscious level seeking a means to laugh. Whether we are watching a feel good movie such as The Natural, or a twisting suspense film, movies transport us, if only for an hour or two, out of our mundane day to day lives. It is for this reason that a large majority of movie goers seek the category of comedy.

Film maker Christopher Guest is among Hollywood's elite comedic directors. Using a troop-like cast of 'usual' actors and actresses, Guest blends the everyday with subtle humor, to create the mocumentary. Guest's first film 1996's Waiting For Guffman, tells the story of a small town's attempt to produce a musical based upon the towns (Blaine Missouri) 150th anniversary. Guest himself heads up the cast as Corky St. Clair, the over ambitious director of the musical. ' Red White and Blaine'. Fans of Rob Reiners cult classic, This Is Spinal Tap will be thrilled to see some of the familiar faces that compromise Guest's comedy troop, including Michael McKean, Flarry Shearer, and Fred Willard. Waiting For Guffman gives the viewer a look into the often hilarious difficulties faced by local theater groups.

Christopher Guest, though setting the bar high, would not be content with just a single selection of the genre he helped create, the mocumentary. Thus 2001's Best In Show. Using many of the returning cast including Eugene Levy,Catherine O'Hara and independent film queen Parker Posey. Best In Show offers a glimpse of the dog show owners and other participants, an the canines that love them. The cameras follow the dogs owners over a 48 hour period. Again, the results are pure comedic genius. The interaction between the actors and the animals are hysterical!

Following up on Best In Show success, Guest and friends team up again for A Mighty Wind. Also presented as a documentary, it follows the difficulties of three folk bands: The Main street singers, The Folks men, and Mitch and Mickey, as they organize a concert in honor of the recent death of the man that produced their music. Ambitiously written by Guest and Eugene Levy, the movies musical numbers are even choreographed! Moreover, one of the films key musical sequences When You're Next To Me, would receive an academy award nomination, and would be performed by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara at the 2004 awards ceremony.

2006's For Your Consideration is the latest of the Guest's comedies, so far. This time around the plot centers around the cast of an independent film and the rumors, as found on an internet buzz site, of a possible Oscar nomination. Once again we are treated to the slick dialog, funny character interactions, and unexpected plot points that compose a Christopher Guest film.

The next time you are standing indecisively at the video store, consider any of the Christopher Guest films mentioned in this article. You will laugh, maybe so hard that you will cry...

Christopher Guest is a comedic genius, and is married to the fantastic Jamie Lee Curtis.