Christopher Guest's New Mockumentary To Debut On Netflix in 2016!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:32pm

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

http://www.avclub.com/article/christopher-guest-produce-furry-mockumentary-netfl-223676?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ShareTools&utm_campaign=default

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:39pm

Yay!  Can't wait!

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:39pm

...but, I mean, I will.  

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:40pm

This is such good news! I couldn't be more excited!!!!!!!!!!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:48pm

As long as we never discuss Family Tree again I'm very excited for this.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 9:39pm

I recently watched the largely unfunny "For Your Consideration" on some cable channel.  I have no idea how I never saw it in theaters, as I previously loved all his work and would attend opening night screenings.  So, you know, maybe this one will be better.  (songanddanceman2, if you're reading this, YES, it's my opinion).

But the subject matter doesn't seem interesting to me.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 9:50pm

Namo, I think For Your Consideration is the funniest one of them all. It has to be because I"m Jewish. There's so much in that film that makes me scream with laughter!

See, now I'm probably the only one who strongly dislikes A Mighty Wind. 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 10:06pm

I LOVED all the Purim stuff.  And again, I saw it years after release on the TeeVee, which is not always the best for movie comedies.

Guest's IMDB profile claims he said in 2005 that he was through with mockumentaries because he didn't find them funny anymore.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/12/15 at 8:31am

I thought For Your Consideration was pretty unfunny, too.  A Mighty Wind as well.  I love Guffman and Best in Show, though.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/12/15 at 8:43am

Spinal Tap and Best in Show are my two faves.

 

A mascot convention though? What a great idea for his troupe. I'm already smiling just thinking about it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/12/15 at 9:06am

I love A Mighty Wind!  Especially the songs.  What surprised me most about it was the genuine emotion I felt at the end.  It was such a sweet film.  Guffman and Best in Show are still my favorites.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/12/15 at 9:10am

 

“For Your Consideration” has grown on me over the years.  It’s not as funny as the others, but it also has a very different feel to it, and I think Catherine O’Hara should have been nominated for her performance. She practically elevates that character to Greek tragedy.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/12/15 at 9:19am

I just don't find anything funny about coming out of a mental institution like in a Mighty Wind. That film is heinous to me.

Growl, I agree about Catherine O'Hara in For Your Consideration.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 1:57pm

Christopher Guest's schtick has really ossified -- A MIGHTY WIND was pretty much the last straw for me.  

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 4:11pm

 

Aw. "A Mighty Wind" is my fave of them all.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 4:26pm

Well, A MIGHTY WIND just seemed pretty lightweight to me, and the little joke about having Harry Shearer's character suddenly becoming a transsexual at the end just seemed cheap and frankly offensive, it just came out of nowhere just for gimmicky shock value.  "Here -- laugh at the tranny!"

I don't feel that Guest's films manage the real emotional impact of Reiner's THIS IS SPINAL TAP -- the first and the funniest and the best of the "mockumentary" type things.  Reiner's able to get everyone to make his characters into human beings in ways that Guest never quite manages -- I never feel that THIS IS SPINAL TAP has quite the same contempt for its characters that A MIGHTY WIND and the other films have.  It can be hard to pin down.

 

Updated On: 8/13/15 at 04:26 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 4:40pm

I re watched MIGHTY WIND a few months ago after having not seen it in years and just loved it. I'd remembered it as not being something I particularly enjoyed when I first saw it so I was really surprised how moved I was by it now. 

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 4:51pm

Can someone tell me what's funny in A Mighty Wind?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 5:12pm

 

That's kind of a tall order, Jane.  I'm not being snarky, but if you don't find the movie funny and I do, what's the purpose of me pointing out all of the things that make me laugh?  Like, would you just want a list of 20 or 30 lines or moments?

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 5:18pm

In my mind, the things that are supposed to be funny have to do with a man being a little out of it after coming out of an institution. I expected you or anyone else to say that those things were what you found funny.

Were they?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 5:38pm

 

Well, obviously I can only speak for myself, but, no, I wouldn’t say that.  And this speaks somewhat to Roscoe’s post, too.  I don’t think the movie points and laughs at Mitch for being “CRAZY!” at all; quite the opposite, in fact, it treats him with great delicacy and respect, especially as the movie goes on and we get to know him.  The character has plenty of funny moments, but they’re not about him being fresh out of an institution.  Mitch and Mickey’s relationship probably touches and moves me more than any other coupling in a Guest movie.  It’s just so anxious and fraught and sad, their whole story.

 

The characters the movie treats with contempt are the contemptible characters, like John Michael Higgins’ smug, insecure front man and Bob Balaban’s pitch-perfect send-up of public-television neuroses.  (The awkward siblings confronting each other and the legacy of their father result in some of my favorite scenes.)  I think “Guffman” is much more contemptible in its treatment of “innocent” characters – or, at least, characters with good intentions – and “Best in Show” for the most part traffics in its characters’ histrionics, which I’ve always found a little grating.  And I enjoy both of those, too!  But “A Mighty Wind” has always seemed his quietest and most humane movie to me.  (Though I will concede to Roscoe that Harry Shearer’s transformation at the end makes me a little uncomfortable in its sight-gaggy-ness… but I think the humor there – at least for me – comes from how squirmy the change makes his bandmates.)

 

I’m also a big folk music fan, and I think all of the music is absolutely wonderful.  So, in addition to finding the movie hilarious and touching, the music makes it very, very entertaining for me because so many of the tunes could pass as legit folk songs.  And then you have Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard doing their usual schticks, which I almost always enjoy   And on the whole, it’s my favorite group of characters; I don’t think any of the actors hit a false note for the entire movie, and the Folksmen in particular feel so, so authentic.

 

So, yeah, I love a lot about it.

Updated On: 8/13/15 at 05:38 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/13/15 at 5:58pm

Thanks very much growl. That sure did answer my question.

I think I saw the film twice but the only thing I remember from it is the focusing on little things that Mitch was doing as a result of having mental issues.  It struck me that those funny moments were indeed all about his mental issues and nothing else I'm especially sensitive about this because my sister came out of mental institutions so many times and nothing she did as a result was in the least bit funny. Those things were heartbreaking and my heart broke watching this film.

But thanks again for answering me where so many others wouldn't bother to try and explain what's funny! xox

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/14/15 at 12:47am

A year or so before the movie came out, I went to a Spinal Tap show, and we got an e-mail from the venue saying that we should show up on time, because Spinal Tap had invited their very special guests The Folksmen to reunite as an opening act especially for our show. I had no idea what that meant, but yeah, got to see a rare Folksmen concert!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/15 at 8:59am

"yeah, got to see a rare Folksmen concert!

Did you check in MIGHTY WIND to see if any footage from that concert made it into the film?

 

I'm afraid I made it seem like I really hate Guest's films, and I really don't.  It isn't so much "contempt" for the characters going on, it's harder to pin down than that, it's just a feeling that these people are idiots and why should I care?  The extra bit of magic that got me invested in Nigel and David's relationship in SPINAL TAP doesn't really come together in Guest's own films.  Not to say that Guest's films are totally emotion-free, not at all.  I'm always caught by the memory of Catherine O'Hara's mournful little song she performs at the trade show for her husband's colostomy bag business in MIGHTY WIND, or that terribly moving moment in BEST IN SHOW where she tells Eugene Levy "You're gonna walk Winky." -- the loving trust shining in her face gets me every time.

 

I just find myself wishing Guest didn't generally settle for easy characterizations -- of course, the cliche gay couple in BEST IN SHOW raise some pissy little princess dog that they pamper outrageously, and the Salt Of The Earth Heterosexual Guy played by Guest raises bloodhounds, I mean, wouldn't it have been a little more interesting if that had been reversed?  Or something.  As it is, it just all feels so On The Nose somehow.  

 

At their best though, there's stuff to like, of course.  Fred Willard's increasingly bizarre non-sequiturs in BEST IN SHOW always delight.

Updated On: 8/14/15 at 08:59 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/14/15 at 9:03am

My favorite line from Best in Show is "We both love soup."