I am not a willy nilly movie purchaser. Movies that I purchase with my hard earned money are always high quality. I also only purchase movies I have seen before, I have to know I like them before I spend money on them!
Well Waiting For Guffman is one of those films that I really like. The mockumentary style film that Christopher Guest helped make famous starting with This is Spinal Tap and a great gang of characters. Stay tuned in this alphabet waiting game of greatness that is this blog for some reviews of other films by this funny group of folks. But tonight Waiting for Guffman was featured at Chez-Moi Cinema.
A couple of things stuck out to me, first of all with the recent passing of a member of Kris Kross I have been reliving some middle school memories. Like the times I would go into the bathroom and put my overalls on backwards once I got to school in homage to Kris Kross. But there would be no way I could leave the house like that with my mother watching. There is a great seen in Waiting where Corky (played by Guest and is a Director in this movie) is working on some choreography for the small town Blaine, Missouri local theater production and his clothes are all on backward. His jeans, his tshirt and his vest are all on backward and I laughed pretty loud at that part today.
Basically the entire film is about a group of people who try out and act in a local play about the 150 year anniversary of the founding of Blaine, Missouri. But the characters are so well created and funny- it is just a high quality experience to watch this movie! Catherine O'Hara (who played Kevin's mom in Home Alone) plays the wife of Fred Willard's character and they are the "veteran" actors in this production. I have two quick stories about Ms. O'Hara and they both have to do with hair. First of all when I was in 7th grade I started to get my hair cut and dyed at a fancy pantsy salon in downtown Birmingham, MI. It was a posh area of Metro Detroit and in the beginning I was getting these haircuts for free so I felt awesome. Later when I paid for them myself it was much less frequently that I went. Anyway- my hairdresser there Joan looked just like Catherine O'Hara and I thought that was so cool. She also was the first person to tell me my unibrow had to go. I am forever grateful to her. Second, in this movie Catherine O'Hara has a unique hairstyle. Well not too unique, my cousin Rachel in the early 90s had the same do. First take your bangs and back comb them until they are standing straight up, spray with too much hair spray, then finally arc them to form one half of the letter M with bottom of the M resting on your cheekbone. Ahhh it brings back memories.
I bet you are wondering what the "Waiting for Guffman" refers to, aren't you? I do not want to ruin the film for you, so all I will say is that the cast is waiting for one of Corky's New York connections that could propel this production of "Red, White and Blaine" right to Broadway. That connection's name is Mr. Guffman. Needless to say this movie has some quality, small town community theater stereotypes and quite a bit of funny.
It is odd how so many things connect, today at lunch there was some discussion of the summer theater production that faculty, staff and people from the surrounding area audition for and produced on campus. I wonder if that would have any of the same feel as Waiting? This was a challenging film to think of program ideas for- but nonetheless the blog must go on! RAs could take this movie and plan a program based on self esteem. Yeah, yeah! Self esteem. At one point in the film Corky is quite upset when he feels like a failure as a director. The rest of the cast is quick to run over to his house and help him feel better about himself. The case is much like your floor members, if you trust one another and lean on one another they will always be there to help pick you up when you fall. One thing that helps to build this trust is giving away your secrets to each other. That is always easier when no one can tell who's secret belongs to who. There are two ways to do this- in the dark or with a teambuilder! Or...wait for it...do both! RAs are so cool.
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