The city of Blaine, Missouri is celebrating its sesquicentennial, and what better reason could there be to put on a show? Corky St. Claire (Christopher Guest), current leader of Blaine's community theater group and creator of a stage musical version of Backdraft that led to the unfortunate destruction of the theater, has been commissioned to put together a musical about the city's noble history, "Red, White and Blaine," which stars a variety of the town's theatrical talent. Corky's cast includes Ron and Sheila Albertson (Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara), a pair of married travel agents that Corky calls "the Lunts of Blaine;" Allan Pearl (Eugene Levy), a dentist who insists that he wasn't the class clown in high school but did sit next to him; Libby Mae Brown (Parker Posey), a sweet young thing who lives for her job at the Dairy Queen; and Clifford Wooley (Lewis Arquette), an "Old Blainian" who makes gun racks from deer hooves. Somehow, Corky has persuaded a major theatrical producer in New York to send a representative to look at the show -- is it possible that "Red, White and Blaine" could be headed to Broadway? Christopher Guest directed and co-wrote this very funny mock-documentary, in addition to playing the flamboyant Corky; Guests's partners from This Is Spinal Tap, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, helped write the memorable songs for "Red, White and Blaine." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Review
With its understanding that humor comes from humanity, Waiting for Guffman is a gem of a comedy. At the center of it all is Corky St. Claire, a failed Broadway performer who has become the biggest fish in the very, very small pond that is Blaine, MO. In Corky, director Christopher Guest personifies the recurring motif of the film: self-delusion. While Guest invests the character with every conceivable gay stereotype, there are references to a Mrs. St. Claire. Guest is not playing this for cheap laughs; he is underscoring the thematic center of the film. Instead of facing up to what they really are, these characters lose themselves in the make-believe world of community theater. Waiting for Guffman is populated by characters unwilling or unable to face themselves. Allan Pearl (the town dentist), Ron and Sheila Albertson (Blaine's travel agents and theater stars), and Libby Mae Brown all lead lives of quiet desperation, revealed in sharply observed scenes and monologues that prove them each to be at best self-delusional and at worst utterly clueless about themselves. The central conceit of the film, that a Broadway producer would come to Missouri to see their show, is a metaphor for how far these characters are from living in their own worlds. There are big laughs in the film such as the montage of townsfolk auditioning for the show, a revealing dinner out with the Pearls and the Albertsons, and the tour of Corky's movie memorabilia (featuring My Dinner With Andre action figures). But at its heart, Waiting for Guffman is concerned with sad people. If the filmmakers didn't love these people so much, the movie would come off as cruel. Fortunately, they do, and the result is a bittersweet comic masterpiece. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
John Frick - Art Director, Ginger Sledge - Associate Producer, Julie Carnahan - Costume Designer, Liz Ryan - First Assistant Director, Christopher Guest - Director, Andy Blumenthal - Editor, Christopher Guest - Songwriter, Michael McKean - Songwriter, Harry Shearer - Songwriter, Joseph T. Garrity - Production Designer, Roberto Schaefer - Cinematographer, Karen Murphy - Producer, Jennifer Murphy - Sound/Sound Designer, Christopher Guest - Screenwriter, Eugene Levey - Screenwriter
The title of the film is a reference to the Samuel Beckettplay, Waiting for Godot — similarly, the titular character never appears. As in the other mockumentaries created by Guest, the majority of the dialogue is improvised. Because the film is about the production of a stage musical, it contains several original musical numbers.
The film is a parody of community theater set in the small, fictional town of Blaine, Missouri. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of a handful of utterly delusional residents as they prepare to put on a community theater production led by eccentric director Corky St. Clair, played by Christopher Guest. The show, a musical chronicling the town's history, titled Red, White and Blaine, is to be performed as part of the town's 150th anniversary celebration.
Along with Guest, the film stars Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard as Ron and Sheila Albertson, a pair of married travel agents (yet have never traveled outside of Blaine) who are also regular amateur performers, and give their companions a little too much information at a restaurant dinner; Parker Posey as the perpetual Dairy Queen employee Libby Mae Brown; Bob Balaban as Lloyd Miller, the increasingly frustrated musical director who actually possesses some talent; Lewis Arquette as Clifford Wooley, a "long time Blaineian" and retired taxidermist who is Red, White and Blaine's bean-loving narrator; Matt Keeslar as the handsome and oblivious mechanic Johnny Savage, who Corky goes out of his way to get into the play; and Eugene Levy as Dr. Alan Pearl, a tragically square dentist determined to discover his inner entertainer. Brian Doyle-Murray appears briefly as Savage's dad and boss who is immediately suspicious of Corky's eccentric behavior.
Corky has presumably used connections gained from his "off-off-off-off" Broadway past to invite Mort Guffman, a Broadway producer, to critique Red, White and Blaine. Corky leads the cast to believe that a positive review from Guffman could mean that the group can take their show all the way to Broadway.
The program itself is designed to musically retell the history of Blaine, whose founding father was a buffoon incapable of distinguishing the geography of middle Missouri and the Pacific coastline. We also learn why the town refers to itself rather obtusely as "the stool capital of the United States". The music contained within is a series of grating and poorly performed songs such as "Nothing Ever Happens on Mars" (a reference to the town's supposed visit by a UFO), and "Stool Boom". The DVD contains "This Bulging River" and "Nothing Ever Happens in Blaine", which were edited from the cinema release.
Central to the film are Corky St. Clair's stereotypicallygay mannerisms. He supposedly has a wife (called Bonnie), whom no-one in Blaine has ever met or seen. When Johnny Savage is forced by his suspicious father (Brian Doyle-Murray) to quit the show, Corky takes over his roles, which were clearly intended for a young, masculine actor: a lusty young frontiersman, a heartbroken soldier, and a little boy wearing a beanie and shorts. St. Clair never sheds his dainty demeanor, bowl haircut, lisp or earring in spite of his historical roles, and his face is pasted with an overkill of stage rouge and eyeliner. Corky is also faced with creating his magic on a shoestring budget, and at one point quits the show after storming out of a meeting with the City Council, who turns down his request for $100,000 to finance the production. But the distraught cast and persuasive city fathers convince Corky to return to the show (to the disappointment of Lloyd Miller, who had taken over in Corky's absence).
At the show's performance, Guffman's seat is seen to be empty, much to the dismay of the cast; Corky assures them that Broadway producers always arrive a bit late for the show, and sure enough a man (Paul Benedict) soon takes Guffman's reserved seat. The show is well-received by the audience, and St. Clair invites the assumed Guffman backstage to talk to the actors. Upon arriving, he declares that he is not Guffman, and had come to Blaine to witness the birth of his niece's baby but enjoyed the show. Corky then reads a telegram stating that Guffman's plane was grounded by snowstorms in New York (though it is in the summer).
An epilogue shows the fates of the cast: While Libby Mae has returned yet again to the Dairy Queen, Dr. Pearl and the Albertsons have both pursued their dreams of being entertainers: Ron and Sheila travel to Hollywood to work as extras, and Dr. Pearl now entertains elderly Jews in Florida retirement communities. Corky has returned to New York, where he has opened a Hollywood-themed novelty shop, which includes such items as Brat Packbobbleheaddolls, My Dinner with Andreaction figures, and The Remains of the Daylunch boxes. When Corky is showing his collection, a Charlie Weaver doll can be seen. Charlie Weaver aka Cliff Arquette was Lewis Arquette's dad.
Reception
Waiting for Guffman was open to critical acclaim among critics. Based on 54 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 91% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 7.8/10.[1] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 71, based on 19 reviews.[2]
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Waiting for Guffman. Read more
