The case for Guest

As far as I can tell, Christopher Guest’s latest film, For Your Consideration, pretty much bombed in America, which must be a recommendation, surely. Listen, I’m only kidding. I have nothing against America. Sometimes, I even think it’s quite the nicest country anyone ever stole and, as for Americans, utterly, utterly charming. Quite fat and quite stupid and always waddling off to amusement parks — I’m not busy today; I know, I’ll ask someone to strap me upside-down and spin me around until I puke — but aside from that, utterly, utterly charming.

Anyway, I suppose whether you will like this film depends largely on whether you like Guest’s loose, fond style of improvised comedy or not, which I accept may not be to everyone’s taste, although, if it’s not to your taste, you may wish to ask yourself this: do I actually have any taste? Guest’s films include This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind; all not just brilliantly inventive and brilliantly funny, but also richly nuanced, slow-burning character studies. Mostly, these characters are deluded losers who imagine they are going to be winners any moment now. This gap between who they are and what they think they are is where much of the comedy is mined, but as it is always done with such affection it never seems too cruel somehow. Plus, if it weren’t for Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, how would we ever have known about ‘Volume 11’? I rest my case.

And this? Yes, For Your Consideration is pretty much more of the same. True, it’s straight narrative rather than mockumentary, but aside from that it is more of the same, but that’s OK, isn’t it? Why would you quarrel with that? Did anyone ever say to Jane Austen: ‘Come on, Jane, show us what else you can do.