It’s Not a Mockumentary: Christopher Guest’s Take on the Human Condition by Jill Blake
“It’s like in a Hitchcock movie, you know, where they tie you up in a rubber bag and throw you in the trunk of a car. You find people.” – Corky St. Clair
In 1984, Rob Reiner collaborated with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer on the improvised THIS IS SPINAL TAP (currently streaming on FilmStruck and written about here). This comedic take on the documentary style of filmmaking introduced characters who possess an inflated sense of purpose and talent being thrown into situations they can’t possibly handle. Their arrogance is the result of their blissful ignorance to the fact that they’re just not very talented. A little over a decade later, Christopher Guest revisited this same format, this time as director and star, with his hilarious and underrated WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (’96).
The fictional town of Blaine, Missouri, is celebrating its sesquicentennial (that’s 150 years). As part of the many celebrations for the special occasion, the town council has asked the resident theatrical director, Corky St. Clair (Guest), to assemble a cast of local talent to tell the story and history of Blaine. St. Clair and his music director Lloyd Miller (Bob Balaban) hold auditions for their original production of “Red, White & Blaine,” with a wide range of talent from the old standbys, like Ron and Sheila Albertson (Fred Willard and Catherine O’Hara), who St. Clair refers to as the “Lunts of Blaine;” to the bubbly Dairy Queen employee Libby Mae Brown (Parker Posey); to acting newcomer and town dentist, Dr. Allan Pearl (played by Eugene Levy, who also co-wrote the story with Guest). While the cast members of “Red, White & Blaine” are charming, lovely people, they’re just not very good actors and singers. But their performances are enthusiastic and earnest, and you can’t help but root for them, especially when they believe that a Broadway producer, Mr. Guffman, has accepted St. Clair’s invitation to attend their opening night. All of the sudden, the members of St. Clair’s troupe, the Blaine Community Players, truly believe they have what it takes to make it to Broadway. It’s hysterical, but also quite endearing, as we truly care about these characters. We want them to succeed, even though we know it’s absolutely impossible.
These characters are composites of average, middle-America folks. They’re people who are familiar to us. Or maybe they are us. Guest and co-writer Levy meticulously crafted a story that gently laughs at these realistic caricatures without being mean-spirited. The stars of “Red, White & Blaine” have set their sights for Hollywood and other various centers of entertainment around the country. We all know they don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of making it in the industry, but we’re all rooting for them nonetheless. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN is as charming as it is funny, and it established a core set of actors, Guest’s own “Blaine Community Players,” if you will (except vastly more talented), that Guest continues to work with in various projects to this day.
Four years after the release of WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy reteamed, writing the script (and by “script,” it’s really only an outline of the story and characters, as all dialogue is improvised by the actors) for the comedy, BEST IN SHOW (’00). Starring much of the cast from GUFFMAN, including Guest and Levy, Catharine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Fred Willard and Bob Balaban, BEST IN SHOW also features the talents of John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Ed Begley Jr., Jane Lynch and Jennifer Coolidge, among many others. Like GUFFMAN, we are introduced to a unique group of people who all have one thing in common. But instead of acting, we’re allowed a firsthand glimpse into the bizarre world of pure breed dog show competitions. These people live and breathe everything canine. Their dogs are their children, and like most parents, they believe their dog is the greatest in the world. We’re introduced to a small group of dog owners on their journey to the prestigious Mayflower Kennel Club Show, a national dog competition. Their fanaticism is obsessive and borderline psychotic (like Meg and Hamilton Swan [Posey and Hitchcock] having an emotional meltdown over the loss of their dog Beatrice’s favorite toy, Busy Bee), but like the members of the Blaine Community Players, these are truly likable characters.
Guest and Levy wrote two more scripts along these same themes, including the delightful look at a folk music reunion featuring once-popular musical groups in A MIGHTY WIND (2003) and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (2006), a well-deserved satirical skewering of Hollywood and its cut-throat awards season. In the spirit of WAITING FOR GUFFMAN and BEST IN SHOW, both A MIGHTY WIND and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION introduce us to strange and wonderful people, but unlike GUFFMAN, both of these films feature individuals who are incredibly talented, but underappreciated or past their prime. There’s an undercurrent of sadness in these two films, that isn’t as prevalent in Guest’s earlier work. We want these characters to succeed, like Marilyn Hack’s (O’Hara) big acting comeback and subsequent Oscar-nom buzz in FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION; or fall back in love, like singer-songwriters and former romantic partners, Mitch and Mickey (Levy and O’Hara) in A MIGHTY WIND. Of course, we all know it’s simply not meant to be.
Christopher Guest’s films are often referred to as “mockumentaries,” but over the years he’s made it clear that he doesn’t care for that term, as it implies that he is making mean-spirited fun of these characters, which couldn’t be further from the truth. These familiar characters are ordinary people who believe so strongly that they’re truly extraordinary and unique. Or perhaps they experienced a modicum of success at one point in their lives. In his films, Guest gives each of these characters their own moment to shine and allows the audience to sit-in on that moment. Maybe this gifted moment is the big break they’ve been waiting for all these years. But most likely, it’s not. They’ll continue living their lives as normal people, occasionally recalling the one time they were at the top with deep gratitude, fondness, and with a touch of wistful melancholy. Sounds a lot like real life, doesn’t it? And just like real life, Guest’s films are funny and ridiculous and heartwarming.
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