Waiting for Guffman [Blu-ray]

Director: Christopher Guest Christopher Guest

Overview

In Blaine, Missouri, a veteran of dubious off-off-Broadway productions casts a dentist, a pair of travel agents, a Dairy Queen worker, and an auto mechanic in his stage musical tracing the town's 150-year history. And what a show they put on in this delightful, funny, satisfying comedy!

Product Details

Release Date:	09/26/2017
UPC:	0888574535582
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:24:00
Sales rank:	5,330

Special Features

Feature-length audio commentary by director/cowriter Christopher Guest and costar Eugene Levy; Additional scenes with optional Guest/Levy commentary; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Christopher Guest	Corky St. Clair
Catherine O'Hara	Sheila Albertson
Parker Posey	Libby Mae Brown
Eugene Levy	Dr. Allan Pearl
Bob Balaban	Lloyd Miller
Fred Willard	Ron Albertson
Larry Miller	Mayor Glenn Welsch
David Cross	UFO Expert
Matt Keeslar	Johnny Savage
Deborah Theaker	Gwen Fabin-Blunt, Councilwoman
Michael Hitchcock	Steve Stark, Councilman
Scott Williamson	Tucker Livingston, Councilman
Don Lake	Phil Burgess, Blaine Historian
Jim McQueen	Singing Auditioner
Turk Pipkin	Ping Pong Ball Juggler
Jerry Turman	Raging Bull Auditioner
Paul Dooley	UFO Abductee
Linda Kash	Mrs. Allan Pearl
Brian Doyle-Murray	Red Savage
Miriam Flynn	Costume Designer
Jill Parker-Jones	Stage Manager
Margaret Bowman	Costume Dresser
Paul Benedict	Not Guffman
Bob Odenkirk	Reverend Cox
Sean Masterson	Basketball Coach
Morwenna Banks	Adele Whitman
Frances Fisher	Rita Savage
Mary Jane Prail	Singing Woman
Kathy Lamkin	Singing Woman
Larry Hovis	UFO Witness
June Weber	UFO Witness
Michael McCarthy	Doctor
Lewis Arquette	Clifford Wooley

Technical Credits

Christopher Guest

Eugene Levy

Christopher Guest	Director,Screenwriter
Jo Edna Boldin	Casting
Eugene Levy	Screenwriter
Karen Murphy	Producer
Wendy Slutsky	Casting

Editorial Reviews

With its understanding that humor comes from humanity, Waiting for Guffman is a gem of a comedy. At the center of it all is Corky St. Claire, a failed Broadway performer who has become the biggest fish in the very, very small pond that is Blaine, MO. In Corky, director Christopher Guest personifies the recurring motif of the film: self-delusion. While Guest invests the character with every conceivable gay stereotype, there are references to a Mrs. St. Claire. Guest is not playing this for cheap laughs; he is underscoring the thematic center of the film. Instead of facing up to what they really are, these characters lose themselves in the make-believe world of community theater. Waiting for Guffman is populated by characters unwilling or unable to face themselves. Allan Pearl (the town dentist), Ron and Sheila Albertson (Blaine's travel agents and theater stars), and Libby Mae Brown all lead lives of quiet desperation, revealed in sharply observed scenes and monologues that prove them each to be at best self-delusional and at worst utterly clueless about themselves. The central conceit of the film, that a Broadway producer would come to Missouri to see their show, is a metaphor for how far these characters are from living in their own worlds. There are big laughs in the film such as the montage of townsfolk auditioning for the show, a revealing dinner out with the Pearls and the Albertsons, and the tour of Corky's movie memorabilia (featuring My Dinner With Andre action figures). But at its heart, Waiting for Guffman is concerned with sad people. If the filmmakers didn't love these people so much, the movie would come off as cruel. Fortunately, they do, and the result is a bittersweet comic masterpiece.