Not bad, really. I think it got out of the funk a bit by not being yet another mockumentary done in the exact same style. Some of the jokes were predictable and some of the schtick was well-worn, but I really liked Guest as the film director and I found the dialogue in “Home for Purim” hilarious (more as spoof of bad *slice-of-life* film than for the Jewish yuks). Harry Shearer’s character was also quite good, and most of all, it was short and ended before it got tiresome. At least as good as Mighty Wind, which I also mostly enjoyed.
i think a guest mockumentary about a decemberists-type band would be solid.
i’m not a huge fan; there are not enough cocaine and dismemberments and bullets through the skull, but his films can still be amusing despite those caveats.
haha love the thread title
The best thing about this movie were Jane Lynch’s faux-ET correspondent stances, probably. I did like it okay, it was less of a comedy and more specifically satirical than any of Guest’s other movies. I think I said it on temp noize board, but I really hope Catherine O’Hara didn’t really get botox. It looked like she did.
maybe it was makeup for the film, since she plays an actress?
The purim song was pretty great. Guest and co. have a genius for deadpan musical style parodies, be it Kingston Trio folk, late 70s prog metal or Jewish holiday song.
supposedly o’hara did all of that *just with her facial muscles,* which is likely the most amazing thing about the movie.
that piece in slate might have been a touch harsh, but i do find myself liking each of his movies less and less...
would be awesome if he picked a target that was a little bit harder to hit, you know?
Yeah, I agree about that. My mom (we saw it together on Thanksgiving) afterwards was like “Wow they really gave it to Hollywood!” and I kind of groaned inside.
But at least he nailed “serious actors” and “small pictures” just as hard as the agents, producers and other typical targets.
highly doubt she got botoxed. looked like prosthetics or they had taped some skin back to stretch the face.
someone i saw the movie with brought up an awesome comparison—guest’s director to paul reiser’s on mad about you. so otm i couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the movie!
my favorite part i think was catherine o’hara saying, ‘the haman i should have protected you from... was ME!!!!’
OK so I read that “botox face” was fake teeth plus her making faces, supposedly nothing more.
kind of a mixed bag all in all but “no penis intended” gets funnier the more i think about it
The scene from the pilgrim epic was immensely funny, and it’s hard to pinpoint why. I think it was just the male pilgrim’s face and the expression on it.
jen coolidge was great as usual.