I suspect that most folks are going to approach this film expecting the giggles of Mighty Wind, Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman. If ignorance is bliss, then movie goers will get plenty to laugh at. However, if you have any insight into how the film / entertainment industry truly is, prepare to cringe.
While there are some very funny moments, there is a deeper, darker message For Your Consideration that is being conveyed on many levels. Sadly, I have every reason to believe that the subtext will be lost on the mindlessly numb masses that have created the foundation for the film. The true antagonists are the increasingly insipid "Hollywood" film industry and their bedfellows (the nauseatingly glib entertainment press and the meddling money-grubbing executives), which drift into consciousness on a few giggles at first, but soon reveal the monstrous underbelly. All of which is portrayed with alarming accuracy.
Sure, viewers will get some of the silliness we've come to expect from the usual suspects (with some welcomed new faces thrown in). As always Jennifer Coolidge (who is, in my opinion, one of the best comedic actresses in decades) steals many a scene and it was wonderful to see Chris Moynihan step out of the New Main Street Singer shadows for a soulful featured role. But this film didn't elicit the usual belly laughs from me as the jabs were hitting a little too close to a fresh wound (having dealt with some of the idiocy of the industry lately).
For someone who has worked in the entertainment industry for several years and lives with the ridiculousness of LA and Hollywood on a daily basis, I can tell you that much of the characters and their behaviors in this film aren't far from reality. Much like LA Story, scenes that might appear to be far too ludicrous to be true, are sadly quite (though often admittedly humorously) authentic to what one experiences in the industry. Ed Begely Jr.'s "Sandy Lane" is the embodiment of every "is he or isn't he" hair and makeup men I've ever met, Jane Lynch's entertainment reporter "Cindy Martin" is eerily perfect (right down to the bodily punctuations) and the sequence with the morning show with Skip, Sanchez and the dippy weather girl are precisely what is on offer in LA's local wake-up shows. All of it is highly entertaining, but again... for someone who lives around this stuff... a little too close for comfort.
What impressed me most were the performances of the veteran actors in Home for Purim's cast, played by Harry Shearer and Catherine O'Hara. The bittersweet arch of O'Hara's "Marilyn" made my heart ache (partially because she is, in the beginning, the personification of my college acting instructor for whom I have great respect) and is all too real to those of us who bear witness to the destructive wake that a taste of glory leaves in its path. It is with utter irony, that I say now that I believe serious, if not golden statuesque recognition from her peers is long overdue (though I felt she deserved it more for work in A Mighty Wind). Meanwhile, Shearer's "Victor Allan Miller" is a touching, sometimes distressing but honest look at what many actors experience once they are considered past their "prime." Like anything that one expects to be different than it is, I felt a little cheated at first and found myself wanting to laugh but not having as much legitimate reason as I had believed I would. The rest of the audience seemed to be of the same mind, which doesn't shock me as much of them were most likely industry people as well. Many of the laughs were the kind of muted guffaws one utters in moments where one is too horrified to know what else to do. As the end credits rolled, the hefty vibe in the theater was much as it might be if a group of strangers were tricked into watching secretly filmed and alarmingly revealing footage of their lives.
Ultimately, I thought this was a terrific film. Guest and Levy are unapologetically saying what a lot of people in and out of the entertainment industry are thinking and feeling and it's about time someone did. Whether they intended great change or not, one can only hope their message gets through before all the creativity and artistic freedom is completely collapsed in movie making. Perhaps then, we can look back on For Your Consideration, and laugh at the folly of our past. But... from what I've seen... don't hold your breath.
While there are some very funny moments, there is a deeper, darker message For Your Consideration that is being conveyed on many levels. Sadly, I have every reason to believe that the subtext will be lost on the mindlessly numb masses that have created the foundation for the film. The true antagonists are the increasingly insipid "Hollywood" film industry and their bedfellows (the nauseatingly glib entertainment press and the meddling money-grubbing executives), which drift into consciousness on a few giggles at first, but soon reveal the monstrous underbelly. All of which is portrayed with alarming accuracy.
Sure, viewers will get some of the silliness we've come to expect from the usual suspects (with some welcomed new faces thrown in). As always Jennifer Coolidge (who is, in my opinion, one of the best comedic actresses in decades) steals many a scene and it was wonderful to see Chris Moynihan step out of the New Main Street Singer shadows for a soulful featured role. But this film didn't elicit the usual belly laughs from me as the jabs were hitting a little too close to a fresh wound (having dealt with some of the idiocy of the industry lately).
For someone who has worked in the entertainment industry for several years and lives with the ridiculousness of LA and Hollywood on a daily basis, I can tell you that much of the characters and their behaviors in this film aren't far from reality. Much like LA Story, scenes that might appear to be far too ludicrous to be true, are sadly quite (though often admittedly humorously) authentic to what one experiences in the industry. Ed Begely Jr.'s "Sandy Lane" is the embodiment of every "is he or isn't he" hair and makeup men I've ever met, Jane Lynch's entertainment reporter "Cindy Martin" is eerily perfect (right down to the bodily punctuations) and the sequence with the morning show with Skip, Sanchez and the dippy weather girl are precisely what is on offer in LA's local wake-up shows. All of it is highly entertaining, but again... for someone who lives around this stuff... a little too close for comfort.
What impressed me most were the performances of the veteran actors in Home for Purim's cast, played by Harry Shearer and Catherine O'Hara. The bittersweet arch of O'Hara's "Marilyn" made my heart ache (partially because she is, in the beginning, the personification of my college acting instructor for whom I have great respect) and is all too real to those of us who bear witness to the destructive wake that a taste of glory leaves in its path. It is with utter irony, that I say now that I believe serious, if not golden statuesque recognition from her peers is long overdue (though I felt she deserved it more for work in A Mighty Wind). Meanwhile, Shearer's "Victor Allan Miller" is a touching, sometimes distressing but honest look at what many actors experience once they are considered past their "prime." Like anything that one expects to be different than it is, I felt a little cheated at first and found myself wanting to laugh but not having as much legitimate reason as I had believed I would. The rest of the audience seemed to be of the same mind, which doesn't shock me as much of them were most likely industry people as well. Many of the laughs were the kind of muted guffaws one utters in moments where one is too horrified to know what else to do. As the end credits rolled, the hefty vibe in the theater was much as it might be if a group of strangers were tricked into watching secretly filmed and alarmingly revealing footage of their lives.
Ultimately, I thought this was a terrific film. Guest and Levy are unapologetically saying what a lot of people in and out of the entertainment industry are thinking and feeling and it's about time someone did. Whether they intended great change or not, one can only hope their message gets through before all the creativity and artistic freedom is completely collapsed in movie making. Perhaps then, we can look back on For Your Consideration, and laugh at the folly of our past. But... from what I've seen... don't hold your breath.
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