Christopher Guest is a f***ing genius

[geniph]

I mean, I knew that after This is Spinal Tap...and Waiting for Guffman...and Best In Show...but we just saw A Mighty Wind, and I haven't laughed so hard in ages. "There's a mighty wind a'blowin', blowin' across the sea...there's a mighty wind a'blowin', it's blowin' you and me."

My word, what a funny movie. Who else loves Christopher Guest's movies? Is it just me that loves movies about people who take themselves so seriously that they become unintentionally hilarious?

Someone who makes Delphi XM radio equipment must be a Spinal Tap fan - the XM boombox's bass and treble controls go to 11.

[felonious thunk]

1. We can not talk for hours and still find things to not talk about

Best in Show is my favorite, but I love all his movies.

[geniph]

3. "And to think these dogs used to be eaten!"

the line that kills me every time from that movie. And poor Eugene Levy, with his (literal) two left feet.

[felonious thunk]

5. Every time I see it I laugh at all Fred Willard's lines

So wonderfully clueless. "Maybe you could have a book with women washing their dogs. They'd be all wet with T-shirts and soap. Well, I'll leave the title to you, I'm not the literary type."

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. I really like...

the delivery of the line "It was a shitbox." I'm on the floor every time.

[bif]

2. He's the funniest director alive

No doubt. Although Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner's film, I believe. That's one of my favorite moviies of all time. I need to get it on DVD.

[geniph]

6. Rob Reiner directed This is Spinal Tap

but Guest, McKean, and Shearer cowrote it (with a writing credit also going to Reiner), and it's unmistakably a Christopher Guest movie. It has all the hallmarks of his later movies.

One thing that just impressed the hell out of me about A Mighty Wind was the "PBN Network" broadcast show - he did the lighting, the camera angles, everything, EXACTLY like a PBS special. And the "vintage" TV appearances on the DVD are hysterically apt - the 70's fade-in-and-out and split-screen bits had me all but wetting my pants laughing.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. He consistantly creates...

some of the best comedy out there, hands down. :)

I have been nuts about him since his time on SNL and "Spinal Tap". My personal favorite is "Waiting for Guffman", because, in my youth, I spent a serious amount of time working on cheesy theatrical productions just like that. Corky is still one of my favorite Guest characters -- his dance, his absent wife, his tirades -- he just killed me.

I have to see "A Mighty Wind" again becasue I saw it when I was in a very strange mood, and found the whole Mickey & Maude story just too sad. (I know, I'm weird.)

[geniph]

8. I'll confess the Mitch & Mickey thing

(Mickey and Maude's a different movie - grin) brought a mist to my eyes at one point - I was laughing, but I was touched, too. Eugene Levy was such a sad broken puppydog of a man!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. Opps, brain fart!

Yup, that was a bad movie with Dudley Moore in it. I'm glad yout said you got misty -- I was beginning to feel like a freak!

Yes, it was Eugene's character that had me so sad -- he was funny but utterly tragic as well. When he had that one moment during the big song where he almost looks sane for just a second and you saw the love he had -- man, I just lost it. :)

[Johnyawl]

36. Didn't effect me

That was just dust my eyes that made them water. Yeah, that's it, dust from all the construction that's been going on in the house recently.

[supernova]

7. Christopher Guest

just rocks. I'll have to rent the A Mighty Wind DVD.

edit: *Sigh* Add another auteur to my growing list of must collect DVDs.

[geniph]

9. Watch the extras on the DVD!

They're PRICELESS!

"It's like we share one brain between us," Jennifer Coolidge's complete dimwit character says at one point, while her coworker grimaces in pain at the aptness of that statement.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

10. hey wha happen?

I cant do my woook! I don't think so! they used to get a real kick outta that.

[geniph]

14. Fred Willard is brilliant

that bit when he spits out some of his drink, and says, "Excuse me, I must be full" just about killed me.

[Gigi]

11. Christopher Guest

Everything is brilliant! My favorite line from "Best in Show":
Looks like Rhapsody has two mommies!!

[MnFats]

12. Did you see 'em on Letterman? they covered the Stones'

"Start me Up"

in those little folkie voices.
'if you start me up, start me up, i'll never stop..."


I fell on the floor when they came to the end:

"you make a dead man cum, you make a dead man cum..."

which they repeated about 50 times, all in those little folkie vocies with an acoustic guitar and banjo backing....

[geniph]

13. Oh, my doG, I would pay money for a tape of that!

I'm laughing just reading about it! I wish I'd seen that!

[Kolesar]

15. Guest is on "Primetime Glick", is he not?

The musician who shoots Jiminy the dirty looks?

[felonious thunk]

16. That's Michael McKeon

a regular in Guest's films, but Guest is Harlan Pepper in Best in Show, the one with the Bloodhound, and the director in Waiting for Guffman

[Kolesar]

17. Hmmm

It looks like I have some movie watching to do. Thanks

[MrBenchley]

18. "Ventriloquism is an ancient art..."

Can't wait to see "Mighty wind"....Besty in Show is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Fred Willard: "Well, we're here at the Mayflower Dog Show in Philadelphia, and that's ironic because Columbus didn't actually land the Mayflower in Philadelphia, did he, doctor?""
And the look on Bob Balaban's face as he struggles to respond is priceless...

[Johnyawl]

21. That's priceless!

I'd forgotten that Willard line. They always seem to give the 'over the top' roles to Fred Willard, and he winds up with most of the sound bite lines.

Best in Show is my favorite movie from this ensemble.

[GinaMaria]

22. the genius is

he doesn't write a script. He tells the actors what he wants them to accomplish in the scene and it's all improv by the actors. It's simply amazing. My fave is Waiting for Guffman

Parker Posey singing her audition Teachers pet.. You know i wanna be teacher's pet

My dinner with Andre action figures!

I've known a few people in community theater, and none of them thought this film was funny. Hit's too close to home i suspect.

[geniph]

23. I used to be in an amateur theatre group

and I adore Waiting for Guffman. I just cringe and wonder if we took ourselves that seriously (yes, we did) and if we were that bad (probably)!

I'm convinced the bit where Christopher Guest says the old Folksmen recordings didn't have a hole in the middle was ad-libbed. That the other two could react to that without completely losing it just shows how good they all are.

There's a bit where ... shit, what's that actor's name? the one who runs the Town Hall where they perform ... whacks Bob Balaban on the head that I'm convinced was also an ad-lib. I lost it when he did that (about five minutes after I would have - that character was annoying!).

[Hell Hath No Fury]

25. "Remains of the Day" lunch pail!

I was walking in SF's Noe Valley a few years abck and came across a storefront in which I saw a real life "Remains of the Day" pail! I thought I was going to have a stroke I was so happy. :)

[Jack The Tab]

28. I'd die if I saw "My Dinner with Andre" action figures...

The bit he does with those figures is hilarious

[FloridaJudy]

38. Oh, but I really want a *Remains of the Day* Lunchbox! n/t

[Zomby Woof]

24. I have to see that

I love Spinal Tap to death, so A Mighty Wind is a must.

"Is it just me that loves movies about people who take themselves so seriously that they become unintentionally hilarious?"

I didn't know they were making a movie about Dean supporters. :evilgrin:

[geniph]

32. A great big sloppy wet raspberry to YOU!

I've never taken anything seriously in my life! I'll joke on my deathbed (or gallows, as the case may be).

Besides, I'm an A.B.B. supporter!

[Zomby Woof]

37. I know you're ABB!

Which is why I wasn't worried about offending you. :evilgrin:

I am also an ABB supporter: The Allman Brothers Band! :D

[Johnyawl]

35. Oh, you bad boy!

I didn't know they were making a movie about Dean supporters.

Maybe Guest will make a movie next year about the Democratic convention. The cast can be from all over the country, and some of them can be Dean delegates, some Kerry delegates, some Clark, etc, etc. They can have many comic, and touching moments while participating in the convention process, and having vote after vote to determine the nominee. In the end, displaying the well known Democratic tendency to forgo ego and blind idealism, in favor a winable candidate, they'll nominate Gore, with Bob Graham as his VP, and share a group hug.

I may send that idea to Guest.

[ajacobson]

26. Best In Show - amazing

My wife and I dwell in that subculture. The movie got so many small touches PRECISELY right, without losing the humor or the weirdness, just amazing. I'm sure the stuffshirts at the AKC weren't too happy about it but as a rank and file dog show participant/follower, I loved it.

[romantico]

27. Hey Wha' Happened?

I don't think so! Fred Willard cracks me up!

[Johnyawl]

31. That's cool to know!

"Best in Show is my favorite, also.

I don't live in that subculture, but Geniph makes me watch all the dog shows on Animal Planet. (and they're on a lot). From the perspective of a spectator, they sure seemed to get it right.

[geniph]

34. The cool thing about his movies

is that he manages to make fun of the absurdity of the people who take their music or dog shows or whatever a bit too seriously without ever being mean about it. He got all the details about an amateur theatre group just right in Waiting for Guffman, too. He's a f***ing genius.

What breed(s) do you show? (I have a soft spot for several of the supergiant breeds.)

[LisaM]

29. Movie??? We just saw the cast perform LIVE.

Hilarious. Parker Posy was really, really funny and Eugene Levy was amazing. Jennifer Coolidge is such a scene stealer they could barely use her. And the Folksmen were hilarious. If you can catch the live show, go for it.

[geniph]

33. Waaah! I'm so envious!

That would be hysterical, except that I wouldn't be able to back up to catch the bits I was laughing too hard to hear...

[Harrumph]

30. Lord Haden-Guest if you please....

Not only is Christopher Guest married to Jamie Lee Curtis but is also an English Lord. Just a little trivia for you all.

And Best in Show is one of the best comedies of all time and A Mighty Wind follows close second. Love Jennifer Coolidge and the rest of his recurring cast.