For Your Consideration (2006)

Crappy film

Brilliant and touching

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Christopher Guest just does it time and time again. His comedy this go-around abandons the documentary-stylized "interview the actors" format that had defined the approach so often associated to Guest. The sound of Oscar starts to take over the production of a low-rent Jewish period melodrama, with a title that is hard to pronounce, consisting of a cast of wannabe Hollywood A-listers (Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Christopher Moynihan, Parker Posey, and Rachael Harris) who get it in their heads that some of them might be nominated…but just how realistic are these expectations?The gigantic cast is chock full of talented comedians. The list is endless: Ed Begley Jr. as a fey, hippy makeup artist, Eugene Levy as a shady agent for Shearer, Guest himself as the pot-bellied director of the production who actually encourages his cast to up their already uncanny camp performing, John Michael Higgins as this hanger-on during the production who seems to be responsible for the Oscar buzz' continued momentum, Jennifer Coolidge as this bimbo serving as financial backing for the film (when she speaks, those around her are awestruck by her low IQ), Don Lake and Michael Hitchcock as a movie critic duo who rarely agree on anything, John Krasinski and Paul Dooley as officers for a bad cop show, Simon Helberg as Levy's "junior agent", Sandra Oh and Richard Kind as marketers for the movie with some rather unsettling theater posters, Bob Balaban and Michael McKean as the writers for the movie so completely out of touch with just how cheesy their material truly is, and Fred Willard and Jane Lynch as hosts of one of those Entertainment Tonight Hollywood celebrity buzz shows.A Christopher Guest film has become must-see just because of the wealth of comedic talent that fills the running time. As you might expect, Guest aims and hits the bullseye more times than not: the acting profession, filmmaking backstage drama, production peek behind the curtain, media coverage, Hollywood agent circus, and egocentric actors often unaware of their true status in town all are perfect targets for Guest's satiric genius. O'Hara and Posey are both brilliant in their respective parts as competitive actresses hoping to score the nomination, portraying in their current production as the dying mother and lesbian daughter she so desperately wanted to "meet a fine boy and get married", but I thought Shearer (whose voice is so distinctive to The Simpsons) steals the film as a down-on-his-luck veteran actor who has been in the biz a long time and just hasn't hit paydirt. It doesn't help that his agent, Levy, undermines him by finding him bad gigs that only discourage Shearer from ever escaping the doldrums of bad television commercials. Levy has a field day with his part as this unflappable agent always trying to be an escape artist when Shearer wonders where the roles are. I could go on and on in regards to members of the cast. If you love seeing the behind the scenes of Hollywood lampooned, For Your Consideration is essential viewing. O'Hara's getting plastic surgery and Posey going the "one person show" act in the dark with just a spotlight are highlights. Balaban and McKean often finding their script disregarded, having to defend it, is another highlight among many. Higgins' disarming appearance out of the blue on unexpected members of the production is a hoot!

having not seen any Christopher Guest movie before this one,i was pleasantly surprised.i found it very clever,witty and sly.i also love the fact that it skewers some of the people in the entertainment and talk show industries.i won't name any manes,but it was bang on it it's depictions of many of those people.the humour in this film is earned honestly its no the bottom of the barrel subtle as a sledgehammer type of comedy.it's more comedic observations.any movie that makes fun of the entertainment industry earns points in my book.after having seen this movie,i look forward to seeing the others in the Christopher Guest catalogue.for me,For your Consideration is an 8/10

Christopher Guest can seem like a one trick pony, with his documentary-style films (indeed, his most famous one actually pretended to be a documentary) about about ensembles of losers with pretensions. But his trademark combination of pointed writing and understated performance can be very funny. An actor in 'This is Spinal Tap', he now directs: 'For Your Consideration' tells the story of a low budget movie that unexpected gets considered for an Oscar. This premise allows Guest free rein to mock not just his characters' individual sensitivities, but also their shambolic film and the whole way the entertainment industry works. As with most of Guest's work, it gets funnier as it goes on, and one becomes familiar with the interior logic of the world he has created. Ricky Gervais turns up at one point, and fits in very easily. A short movie, it leaves you wanting more.

I enjoyed this film very much...so let me get that out of the way at the outset of this comment. I thought the subject matter was great, the cast as usual was phenomenal and the direction was first rate. The problem I have with this is that it seemed very disjointed and uneven. The ending struck me as too abrupt and with little of the joy felt at the ends of the other films by this ensemble. I think that, for me, it was the trying to give everyone in the cast a meaningful part that kills the film. Many of the actors are veterans of Saturday Night Live, and it is with that history in mind that I make this observation. In the first 5 years of that show, with its original cast, whenever a sketch was written that called for the entire cast of players to be involved, it was referred to as a "garbage pail" sketch...which meant that it was an easy way to include the less used actors along with the most popular of the troupe. In those sketches, however, many of the roles were merely walk on parts or those that had a minimum of lines. Sure, they were still in the scenes, but the parts lacked finesse or subtlety and generally involved the actors playing stereotypical caricatures, such as secretaries or doormen or the like. "For Your Consideration" reminds me of just such a sketch...an hour and a half "garbage pail" sketch. Like a snowball, over the years this repertory company's ranks have swelled in numbers. Unfortunately, it seems that there are just too many in the cast now to utilize them all effectively. They are trying to pull it off...in this movie, everyone has something to do, but many of the characters lack depth or story. It also doesn't help that while the repeating cast members in these films have expanded in numbers, the movies running times haven't expanded in length. Perhaps given an extra half hour or 45 minutes to the running time would serve to flesh out some of these only partially realized characters. If nothing else it additional time would at least give us more of a story to ponder. As I said before, this film in particular seemed incomplete by the end. I saw the conclusion from a mile away though...much like an old Twilight Zone episode where you just KNEW that it would be some odd, ironic twist in the conclusion. Yes, that was much of the charm of "For Your Consideration," knowing that there was going to be a fall for some if not most of the characters, but the transition to the revelations were clunky and only semi-cohesive.I love Christopher Guest! I think his all of his ensemble cast's...especially Eugene Levi, are true treasures to not only the world of film, but to comedy as a genre! I found this movie to be no exception to my opinion of his and everyone's collective efforts. I just feel that this movie in particular is lacking in many of the qualities that have made his other films nearly masterworks.