Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

nathanschubach Classic Christopher Guest directing, excellent improv acting, hilarious songs during the play in the movie, and a great start to a line of movies that Guest directed in this way. Notable scenes: Eugene Levy's impression of Johnny Carson's impression of an Indian, Catherine O'Hara's bangs (straight up!), the first of Fred Willard's impressions of how TV personalities talk (which he later reprised in "A Mighty Wind"), Parker Posey's character talking ad nauseum about Dairy Queen creations, and Eugene Levy's martian song at the play. Too many parts to mention here, you'll just have to see for yourself.It should be noted that the Family Guy character of Bruce sounds exactly like Guest's Corky St. Clair. This is one of the better Guest movies to watch, so I don't think you'll be disappointed.

drawah64 This is a fairly enjoyable film, but honestly I don't think it's deserving of all the praise it gets. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be 'mild.' The story is mildly interesting, and it follows a group of small-town folks who are mildly quirky, putting on a play that is pretty bad, but only mildly funny.Part of the problem, I think, is that it's somewhat one-joke-- the characters are stupid, and they're putting on a bad play. Beyond that, there's not much to laugh at. There are a few moments of comedy, but most of it is just repeating the same ideas which aren't original or funny in the first place-- Fred Willard's character is self-obsessed and obnoxious, Catherine O'Hara is blindly supportive of him, Corky St. Clair is flamboyantly gay, etc. It seems cliché'd to compare this (or any improvisational comedy) to Spinal Tap, but the key difference between them is that in Spinal Tap, the characters say funny things. In this, the fact that the characters are stupid/vain/whatever is supposed to be the joke. And it gets old very quickly.Watching the film, it seems like the play is going to be a hilarious climax, but it's not nearly as bad as it could be. The songs themselves are pretty funny, because they're so cheesy and typical of amateur musical theater, but being subjected to 15+ minutes of the same joke -- these characters are bad actors and the lyrics are cheesy -- is tiresome.Also, I'm guessing the ending is supposed to be surprising, but it's telegraphed pretty clearly, and you can see it coming a mile away.

dougdoepke Thanks be to cable for reviving this very non-commercial film. It's a sweet send-up of small town America that comes across like an extended version of Second City Review or Saturday Night Live. Sure, some of the parody is pointed, but it's never mean-spirited. Blaine, Missouri, in the heart of the state, is having its 150th anniversary, and by golly the town's theatrical types are going to do it up right. Never mind that the talent is spread pretty thin from the stage struck town dentist (Eugene Levy), to travel agents (Fred Willard & Catherine O'Hara), to Dairy Queen princess (Parker Posey). Or that their inspiration comes from an off- off-off Broadway impresario (Christopher Guest), "temporarily on leave" from the Big Apple. He may not be your typical macho mid-western type, but he did serve on a destroyer and does have a wife, somewhere, so he says.It's all handled with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek, as we watch the cast lumber, stagger, and flounce through their dance routines and dream of Real stage success. Naturally, we expect the final result, the pageant performance before the whole town, to nose-dive., But it doesn't. Instead, the stage performance comes across rather sweetly, with just the right amount of unpolished success that brings the whole town to its feet in a boffo finale. What happens then is comical and not too surprising, considering all the low rent motels surrounding Hollywood. Levy, Willard, and the others are uniformly excellent as would be expected of veteran sketch artists. I don't know who to thank for the movie that had no obvious future, commercial or otherwise. But for darn sure this little sleeper goes into my tape library for repeated viewing.

S.R. Dipaling I was tempted to write in the Summary line that this movie was,in fact,the birth of the "Mockumentary" form of comedy that has brought forth not only director/writer/co-star Christopher Guest's ensuing films("Best in Show","A Mighty Wind"and "For Your Consideration")but such choice TV offerings as "Arrested Development","The Office" and "Reno 911!" and movies owing some nod to this style such as "Drop Dead Gorgeous","Lisa Picard is FAmous" and "Run! Ronnie,Run!",but actually,that distinction may belong in truth to "This is Spinal Tap",which is,in turn where Guest cut his teeth in terms of straight-playing,improvisational "tour-guiding" of viewers through fictional and laughable "real" people and situations. Still,it feels like this movie practically made the improvised(and not improvised)sense of taking the viewer through supposedly unforced and natural parody seem natural,effortless and brilliant.The small,central(?) Missouri town of Blaine is(As of 1995-96) turning 150 years old,and for something special to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Founder's Day,one-time Broadway actor and choreographer Corky St.Clair(Guest,relishing this chance to shed his more bankable notice from such films as "Spinal" and "Princess Bride")decides to seize this opportunity and put on a big-scale,Broadway quality musical celebrating the town's quaint yet odd history. He hires a composer--a quietly resentful music teacher(Bob Balaban,masterfully non-descript and intelligent,quietly funny)--and goes about assembling a cast. After sitting through an audition casting call that can be politely described as "Unique"(examples: a caped stunt player and a man who fires ping pong balls and catches them,both by mouth),he is able to make his cast:Dr.Allan Pearl(Eugene Levy,who is a joy to watch in almost everything he does) a shy,modestly talented but game dentist with vision problems;Ron and Sheila Albertson(Fred Willard--who would belong in a HAll of FAme of comedic character actors--and CAtherine O"HAra,who along with Levy,is a Ace SCTV alum who NEEDS more projects like this),local travel agents,also semi-talented and both quite delusional; Libby MAe Brown(Parker Posey,somewhat out-of-the-norm for her here,IF there's a norm for her types of roles),a basically unspoiled Dairy Queen employee,also with limited stage talent but game for the challenge;Johnny SAvage(MAtt Keeslar),a handsome but perceivably dense auto mechanic who goes along for the show,regardless of how much he may really fit in;and local storyteller Clifford Wooley(Lewis Arquette,more famous for being a member of the acting family),who serves as the narrator for their production. As Corky assembles the talent on hand,rehearses and tries to get the show up, he runs into his share of roadblocks(lack of funding,cast availability,potential nervous breakdowns,etc.)as he gets word(perhaps solicited)that a major Broadway talent scout named Mort Guffman(hence the title)may be on his way to view the show,presenting the chance for Corky to return to his beloved New York and possibly a chance for "Stars to be Born",so to speak.Co-written by Levy,this movie leaves the punchlines,situations and pratfalls--verbal AND physical--to be caught by the audience,never overdoing anything and always rolling the situation along. BArely ninety minutes long,the movie figures--and rightly so--that if you missed something and were at all interested in what you saw that you'd want to watch it again,perhaps multiple times. These are all qualities that,while I realize in major motion pictures is going to be somewhat rare,I LOVE to see employed. Being someone who has dabbled in local theater,I can say that there are some rather universal elements in the look,feel and ambitions of "putting on the show" and making sure "the Show must Go on!" that make this movie distinctive and great. Whether it's a simple Summer Stock production or a MAssive,Major Broadway production,there's always this idea that the stage is somewhere where talent is raw and unpredictable,tough to corral and always rife with potential to go wrong. Besides the previous "film" qualities I've mentioned,this film also captures the sense of making theatre(And it really,let's be honest,wouldn't be so funny if the talent assembled here WASN'T sub-par),which can easily be very UN-entertaining,and makes it funny and raw.A keeper of a movie,and a good teaser or compliment to the other Guest-Levy penned films made from thence forward. Maybe,as the tag-line says,all talent shouldn't be discovered,but you don't feel so bad coming across this assemblage.