Waiting for Guffman (1996)

An aspiring director and the marginally-talented amateur cast of a hokey small-town Missouri musical production go overboard when they learn that someone from Broadway will be in attendance.

Director:

Christopher Guest

Writers:

Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy

Stars:

Christopher Guest, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Deborah Theaker	...	Gwen Fabin-Blunt - Councilwoman
Michael Hitchcock	...	Steve Stark - Councilman
Scott Williamson	...	Tucker Livingston - Councilman
Larry Miller	...	Glenn Welsch - Mayor
Don Lake	...	Phil Burgess - Blaine Historian
Christopher Guest	...	Corky St. Clair
Fred Willard	...	Ron Albertson
Catherine O'Hara	...	Sheila Albertson
Parker Posey	...	Libby Mae Brown
David Cross	...	UFO Expert
Eugene Levy	...	Dr. Allan Pearl
James McQueen	...	Singing Auditioner (as Jim McQueen)
Turk Pipkin	...	Ping Pong Ball Juggler
Jerry Turman	...	Raging Bull Auditioner
Bob Balaban	...	Lloyd Miller

Storyline

A town of Blaine, Missouri is preparing for celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Corky St.Clair, an off-off-off-off-off-Broadway director is putting together an amateur theater show about the town's history, starring a local dentist, a couple of travel agents, a Dairy Queen waitress, and a car repairman. He invites a Broadway theater critic Mr. Guffman to see the opening night of the show.

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Plot Keywords:

missouri | small town | dairy queen | dentist | travel agent | 

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Taglines:

A New Comedy from the lead guitarist of 'Spinal Tap'

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. / Castle Rock [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 January 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Christopher Guest Project

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$37,990 (USA) (31 January 1997)

Gross:

$2,892,582 (USA) (18 July 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Pale Morning Dun, All Night Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS SDDS (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only parts that were actually scripted by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy were the lines in the musical "Red, White and Blaine."

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Goofs

Mort Guffman cancels his flight to Blaine, MO because of a snow storm in New York City, yet in Blaine, MO, where the film takes place, the season seems to be Spring or Summer.

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Quotes

Corky St. Clair: Well, then, I just HATE you... and I hate your... ass... FACE!

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits Christopher Guest's character shows us some of the fun memorabilia that he sells in his store.

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Connections

Referenced in Crazy Richard (2002)

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Soundtracks

"My Bubba Made a Kishka"
(uncredited)
Sung a cappella by Eugene Levy

User Reviews

Why did I wait so long?

I'm not sure why I waited to so long to see this film as I've known about it for quite some time now, but it was purely delightful. I spent the weekend catching up on my Christopher Guest films, and watched `A Mighty Wind' then `Best in Show' and saved Guffman for last. While I still thought `A Mighty Wind' was better, (in the same way that Sprite is better than 7-Up… there's really no difference, just maybe an iota of something indescribable that is better) `Waiting for Guffman' is still huddled in there with `Best in Show' as a fantastic film.

One thing that I noticed about `Guffman' over the others is that while all of his films have a little heart to them, this film had just a little bit more. I can also see that Guest, while having more of an acting role in this film, went on to lessen his roles substantially, but he really is a good actor. All of the actors show immense versatility, (especially Catherine O'Hara, whose hair in this film made me laugh constantly) but Guest actually surprised me. The fact that the films are primarily ad-libbed is most impressive in `Guffman' in my opinion, and the direction, while very subtle in all of the films, does not rely on editing to lead (or sometimes, create) a gag as much as his later films do.

All of Guest's films are fairly short (clocking in at 90 minutes or less) so I would suggest that if you haven't seen any or all of his mockumentaries, to just schedule a film festival with some friends and watch them in order. It's fun to compare them, and to watch the same actors take on different personas, and `Waiting for Guffman' is a strong and hilarious piece of work.

--Shelly