WAITING FOR GUFFMAN: shining a spotlight on small town America

It’s a complete waste of time to search for the town of Blaine, Missouri on the map.

As the setting for WAITING FOR GUFFMAN Blaine certainly looks like a picture-perfect example of small-town America but it doesn’t exist.

It’s a three dimensional figment of the unique imagination of Christopher Guest, the film’s actor-writer-director and a keen student of the ridiculous in everyday life.

WAITING FOR GUFFMAN zeroes in on Blaine as the burg prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday with a musical celebration titled “Red, White and Blaine.”

The town council hires failed Broadway director Corky St Clair (Guest) to create the extravaganza. Corky’s big on ambition but tiny on talent and misguidedly sees the show as his ticket back to the big time.

He motivates his cast of five amateur thespians (all equally tiny on talent) by telling them that important talent scout Mort Guffman will be in the opening night audience and if he likes what he sees they could all be heading to the Great White Way!

WAITING FOR GUFFMAN is a wonderful example of the genre which Guest has made practically his own – the mockumentary - a comedy masquerading as a documentary.

There’s a real art to this kind of sharply observed, non-judgemental humour and – having cut his mock documentary teeth as Nigel Tufnel in “This is Spinal Tap” - Christopher Guest is a master of the craft.

He peoples Blaine with a cast of characters who are funny precisely because they take themselves so seriously. They see no humour in their behaviour, fashion sense, and relationships and would be embarrassed and appalled if they realised that others were laughing at them.

Guest’s Corky St Clair is blatantly camp with an ill-advised toupee and a barely disguised crush on his hunky leading man, yet everyone with the exception of the leading man’s father, accepts Corky’s mannerisms as “artistic” and nothing more.

Corky, in turn, never thinks to challenge town dentist Dr Pearl’s (Eugene Levy) characterisation of himself as a genuinely amusing entertainer even though it’s obvious to us outsiders that he’s substituting hard work and enthusiasm for any actual showbusiness talent.

And no one at all considers it the least bit strange that city’s sole travel agency is run by the Albertsons, a couple who’ve never left Blaine. Sheila (Catherine O’Hara) is a borderline hysteric with a drink problem while Ron (Fred Willard) is hearty but oppressively overbearing.

It’s the highlighting of these foibles, failings and idiosyncrasies which makes the townsfolk of Blaine so real and endearing. Corky and company unselfconsciously bring to life the eccentricities we recognise in those we work and socialise with, even if we don’t always spot these same flaws in ourselves.

A comedy which is both subtle and laugh out loud funny 1997’s WAITING FOR GUFFMAN was the first of four mockmentaries to team Guest with Levy, O’Hara and Willard and the three subsequent outings  – “Best in Show”(2000), “A Mighty Wind” (2003) and “For Your Consideration” (2006) are all worthy of equal praise.

A hugely entertaining send-up of small-town American life, amateur theatricals and the human condition, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN is a genuine viewing pleasure that will give you an itch you just can’t scratch enough for more of Guest’s output.