I think Waiting for Huffman is the funniest, by far, but Best in Show is a close second.
A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration are only okay. Catherine O'Hara's performance pretty much saves FYC from being awful.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | January 24, 2021 10:57 AM |
Waiting for Guffman is my favorite by a long shot--but then I lived in rural Nebraska for three hellish years and attended though never participated in their local community productions. Guest's film is like cinema verite. The succeeding films weren't as nasty-funny and none had a Corky St. Clair (who must post on ATC), though "Best in Show" had its charms. "A Mighty Wind" had too easy and uninteresting targets and "For Your Consideration" just seemed mean, though O'Hara was, as always, a genius.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 25, 2015 4:30 AM |
Actually liked Guest in Mrs. Henderson Presents, in which he played a send-up of his real self, the 5th Baron Haden-Guest of Saling.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 25, 2015 4:37 AM |
They all came out before I was born.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 25, 2015 5:02 AM |
[quote]I think Waiting for Huffman is the funniest,
I prefer both A Mighty Wing and Best in Shop.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 25, 2015 5:42 AM |
Waiting For Guffman is a top 20 movie all time.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 25, 2015 5:45 AM |
Somebody should notify Felicity that OP has been waiting for her all this time!
THIS IS SPINAL TAP will always be Guest's best movie and the most famous.
My second favorite is WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, followed by BEST IN SHOW, though they do smack of homophobia/gay derision.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 25, 2015 6:08 AM |
Most people I know love "Best In Show" the most and it is great but I prefer "Waiting For Guffman." I think I like having a more central character in Corky St. Clair.
And I've never read any homophobia/gay derision in any of Guest's movies. I don't think Jane Lynch would participate if there were.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 25, 2015 6:20 AM |
"Waiting For Huffman"
a.k.a. The William H. Macy Story
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 25, 2015 6:45 AM |
"Guffman" for sure, though I always think only actors will really get it. But it has heart. "Best in Show" had its moments but too many bitches, nasty people across the board. "Mighty Wind" made me smile though, again, very specialized subject matter -- but there's a reason it is Guest's only Oscar nomination. His sweetest moment.
He's a very odd duck, by the way, totally morose in person. Hard to see him with Jamie Lee Curtis all these years but guess it works.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 25, 2015 6:52 AM |
[quote]He's a very odd duck, by the way, totally morose in person.
So true. Try listening to any of his commentaries on his movies. Awful!
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 25, 2015 7:03 AM |
WW for R8, who beat me to it!
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 25, 2015 4:42 PM |
I love the scene in Best in Show when Eugene Levy's credit card is declined at the hotel and he and O'Hara have to stay in the janitor's closet. You feel so sorry for them and laugh at the same time.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 25, 2015 10:13 PM |
I love Guffman, Best in Show and Spinal Tap (not solely a Guest movie) but I thought things went downhill pretty quickly with A Mighty Wind.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 25, 2015 10:16 PM |
This Is Spinal Tap. No contest there.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 25, 2015 10:17 PM |
Working, working
Never, stopping, never sleeping
Working, working
Some for selling, some for keeping
Working...
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 6, 2015 6:18 PM |
I found Best in Show disappointing after Guffman. It seems as if they were trying too hard, especially the super-shrill Parker Posey.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 6, 2015 8:35 PM |
"This is Spinal Tap" is the best, because it has the most laugh-out loud scenes: the "Stonehenge" sequence may have given me the best laugh I've ever had in a movie theater the first time I saw it. They get progressively weaker, although the funniest scene (outside of "Spinal Tap") may be when Parker Posey has to buy the dog toy at the pet store in "Best in Show."
"A Mighty Wind" isn't all that funny, but I like it because the characters are so interesting and the songs are so good (especially "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon").
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 6, 2015 8:42 PM |
I loved them all, but "Waiting for Guffman" is the best .
I'm sure that my feeling on this is due in large part to the fact that I discovered it a year into a job teaching theatre at a small town high school with only 4oo students and the most ass backwards boys club administration you could imagine. I created a complete upheaval there when I suggested that the choir director's sons not be the lead in every musical, that the sets not be built with the woods teacher's construction plans for houses made to withstand a stage five hurricane, and that curtain backdrops were actually preferable to painting the cinderblock wall behind the stage. It was a banner fucking year. I showed WFG to my Advanced Drama class during play season and they laughed their asses off along with me.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 6, 2015 9:32 PM |
I loved This is Spinal Tap,, but wasn't solely his film. Best in Show is my favorite. I've seen Waiting for Guffman and enjoyed it, but I can't remember much of it at all. I'll have to rewatch.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | August 6, 2015 9:43 PM |
Best in Show. I don't think I've ever seen any others, but it's a favourite on its own.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | August 6, 2015 9:48 PM |
Definitely Waiting for Guffman...I practically loss my pants every time I watch it.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | August 6, 2015 10:01 PM |
Sorry..."PISS", not loss.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | August 6, 2015 10:03 PM |
I bet Corky St. Clair would want you to "loss" your pants,R22.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | August 6, 2015 10:05 PM |
Also Best in Show. But I saw that first. They're all pretty similar in that if you've seen one, you can predict the gags coming a mile up the road in the rest. Catherine O'Hara's great though. Wish she had more mainstream success. She eats up the screen.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | August 6, 2015 10:13 PM |
But I HAVE a husband, Daddy! And his name is Mary Pat!
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | August 6, 2015 10:24 PM |
Would I like This is Spinal Tap even if I don't like heavy metal music?
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | August 6, 2015 11:01 PM |
R27 Absolutely. It's fucking hilarious but it's also a terrific satire of rock documentaries and the music industry at the time. Some of it is dated now, but some of it's not.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | August 6, 2015 11:05 PM |
I thought he was excellently sinister in "The Princess Bride" but loved him most in "This is Spinal Tap".
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | August 6, 2015 11:12 PM |
I don't think Corky St. Clair relies on homophobic tropes. I think he's a satire of them, and of the deep and deliberate denial of flyover small town communities.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | August 6, 2015 11:27 PM |
Girlfriends (1978)
(He appears naked in it).
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 7, 2015 1:21 AM |
(He appears naked in it).
But, I should explain, not in that posted clip....that's just the young Melanie Mayron & her rabbi friend.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | August 7, 2015 2:03 AM |
[quote]I loved them all, but "Waiting for Guffman" is the best .
[quote]I'm sure that my feeling on this is due in large part to the fact that I discovered it a year into a job teaching theatre at a small town high school with only 400 students and the most ass backwards boys club administration you could imagine. I created a complete upheaval there when I suggested that the choir director's sons not be the lead in every musical, that the sets not be built with the woods teacher's construction plans for houses made to withstand a stage five hurricane, and that curtain backdrops were actually preferable to painting the cinderblock wall behind the stage. It was a banner fucking year. I showed WFG to my Advanced Drama class during play season and they laughed their asses off along with me.
I attended a small liberal arts college where, instead of athletics, homecoming was centered around two original musicals produced by two rival teams and judged by outside theatre experts. I participated in the shows in some capacity every year I was in school, and the thing that resonated with me in WFG was how they all thought they were producing something wonderful that was actually laughably bad. Occasionally our shows were truly brilliant, but there were also plenty of them that really did stink in retrospect.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | January 23, 2021 9:38 PM |
[quote] They all came out before I was born.
While I thank you for sharing, I'd like to point out that it's still fully possible for you to see them and have an opinion on them. You don't only have to see new releases, you know.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | January 23, 2021 9:42 PM |
[quote]They all came out before I was born.
"For Your Consideration" was released in 2006. You wrote this in 2015. So you were 9 at the time? (But you looked 5, I'm sure.)
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | January 23, 2021 9:45 PM |
Guffman is the best!!! Best In Show a close 2nd.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | January 23, 2021 9:57 PM |
Best In Show- Martha Coolidge at her best!
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | January 23, 2021 10:05 PM |
Guffman hit all the right notes. Anyone who's participating in community theatre at some point can attest to that. Huge egos without much talent. It's both hilarious and slightly heartbreaking at the same time.
Best in Show was another great one and I like For Your Consideration mostly for O'Hara who should have gotten an Oscar nom for that.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | January 23, 2021 10:38 PM |
People who do community theatre adore Guffman...and all of them are sure it's about those *other* people.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | January 23, 2021 11:20 PM |
I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Mascots," Guest's last mockumentary in 2016. It lacks the improv bite and charm of the first four (if you include Spinal Tap, which he was in but didn't direct), but it's better than "For Your Consideration," which was awful outside of Catherine O'Hara's performance.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | January 24, 2021 10:38 AM |
BTW I would rank them:
This is Spinal Tap Waiting For Guffman Best In Show A Mighty Wind
(big gap)
Mascots
(Grand Canyon gap)
For Your Consideration
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | January 24, 2021 10:45 AM |
This is Spinal Tap is fantastic, but it isn't a Chris Guest movie. He was in it, and he improvised brilliantly (as did McKean, Shearer, and others), but Rob Reiner was the main creative force behind that film.
I think the quality of Guest's movies gradually declined, though I can't speak to Mascots, which I haven't seen. After seeing For Your Consideration, I decided I didn't need to see any subsequent films of his.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | January 24, 2021 10:57 AM |
