The Sheila Variations

"For Your Consideration"

Jen and I saw it last night - it was a really fun evening, all in all, involving shopping at the outdoor Christmas market, then dinner - Mexican food and margaritas - and then suddenly deciding to go see "For Your Consideration" which was playing at 42nd Street - we were down on 14th - so we made a mad dash on the R train to get there in time. We had 20 minutes for the commute and we got there with time to spare.

I've been meaning to see For Your Consideration ever since it came out - and it's certainly not up to, say, Waiting for Guffman - and I, personally, missed the mockumentary format in this film - that seems to me to be where Guest really shines, and has something to offer that nobody else does... But I've never really been the type to moan: Waaah, why didn't they make the movie that I wanted to see?? I take it for what it IS. At least I try to. So many reviews seem to just bitch that he didn't remake Best in Show. That is the reviewers deficiency, not Guest's.

The first 10 minutes of the movie were pretty clunky - not one laugh in them - and that is rare with this group of talent. It just felt "off", you know? Without those faux documentary interviews - it was hard to get IN with these people. The interviews in Guffman, Spinal Tap and all the others are these psychologically devastating and astute character portraits ... people whose behavior tells the whole story, while their words may try to cover up their anxiety, insecurity, whatever. "I know how the Kennedys must feel." Etc. I mean, there are so many examples. For Your Consideration didn't have that. It did have the hand-held camera a lot of the time, and much of it felt improvisational ... those actors are just the best at that kind of stuff - unexpected behavioral moments, little glances, stupid comments that hang in the air until Guest cuts away ... All that is still there. But I did yearn for some interviews - where you can watch these people try to explain themselves to the camera.

Rachael Harris and Parker Posey

Regardless - the observations about actors and scripts and directors were so spot on, and so TRUE, that Jen and I were just CACKLING at some of the stuff. We know this behavior intimately. We make fun of it. But we also are part of it. It's insider humor. We get to laugh - and we laugh in a different way than outsiders do, who think we're a bunch of morons, and laugh at it out of a feeling of superiority. "Hee hee, look at those morons." But we laugh from recognition, a cringing recognition ... like: Oh God. That has been me. Ahhhhh! That's one of the reasons why Waiting for Guffman is my favorite of all of his so far. Because even though it's community theatre, and even though some of these people (Fred Willard) are RIDICULOUS - I felt, watching it, Oh yeah. I remember that. I remember that this is why I do this, and why I love this. It's not an unworthy pursuit, theatre. There's a reason why people want to do it. Because it's just fun to put on a show, frankly. And so the laughter from their silly rehearsals and theatre games and their over-dramatic moments of conflict ... I was laughing out of: Holy crap, he has so NAILED it, he has so NAILED that world that I know.

In the first scene in For Your Consideration - an actor in a sailor suit - discusses his upcoming scene with the director, played by Christopher Guest. The subtlety of the behavior that Christopher Guest captures. It's just - THAT is the kind of stuff that makes me pee my pants. It's so real. You know how you watch reality TV or you watch an interview with someone - and they are TELLING you everything, just by their behavior, even if their words say something different? So this actor is going on and on about his preparation (Jen and I were losing it - it's an "in" joke - any actor, any director would freakin' recognize this behavior) - Actor drones on (and yet he's earnest - he's not a blowhard - there's just something so RIGHT about how he plays it): "So I know that my father is dead ... and yet I have all of this guilt about leaving my sister behind ... but I don't want to SHOW the guilt ... and yet at the same time, I need to comfort my mother and let her know I understand ...." heh heh heh Like: how on earth are you going to play all of that at once?? And Christopher Guest, as the supportive director (who drives the writers crazy - the writers played by Michael McKean and Bob Balaban and I just want to kiss them both - I love this whole ensemble - but anyway, the director drives the writers nuts because if a scene isn't working, he'll "throw the script away" and have the actors do actor improvs to find the reality of the situation. Like he'll have them switch parts - so you see them all, overly serious, doing these games and improvs - stuff that definitely has its place but IN REHEARSAL, not when you're on the set ... Jen and I were crying with laughter.) Ack tangent - okay, so the sailor-actor is going on and on in that actor way, and Guest interrupts (and he's so gentle, this director), he says, "I think all of that is GREAT. I love that you have done all of this preparation. And you'll definitely be able to use it. But I'm thinking maybe in another movie." He says it with a total absence of mean-ness. What he essentially is saying is: "Wow. Please don't overcomplicate things. Just play the scene." But he can't SAY that - so he says, "Use the preparation you've done in THIS movie for your NEXT movie."

There were all of those little exquisite moments that Guest gets - stuff impossible to describe, moments of thought, opening mouth to speak and nothing coming out, nodding in agreement when you really don't understand ... He just has such a great eye, and those actors trust him so much ... they just GO. I can relax. I can just sit back and watch these people just do their thing. I adore it.

But I have to say: THE reason to see this film is the absolute genius of Catherine O'Hara. This woman is SCARY. This woman is on Meryl Streep's level - nobody else in the business today even comes close. Catherine O'Hara is outrageously funny, of course - yet at the same time she can be so raw, and so ... there were moments when Jen and I had to look away. It's so sad, so pathetic (akin to Lisa Kudrow's brilliant turn in The Comeback - it has that raw-nerve openly-needy pathos ... so so difficult to watch, and yet exquisite work - it NEVER is general. It always is specific).

Catherine O'Hara and John Michael Higgins

I was blown away by O'Hara's performance (and I'm basically always blown away by her). She is a chameleon. She is never just the surface of her character - she never just changes her hair and her accent and expects us to buy it. She BECOMES these people. Think of the difference between Cookie in Best in Show, Mickey in Mighty Wind and Sheila Albertson in Waiting for Guffman. The only similarity between these characters is that they all were played by the same actress. Other than that ... her range is breathtaking. Literally. Jen and I had moments last night, in the audience, where we gasped at what we were seeing. From the very beginning. We know just who this woman is. We see her. It's so sad ... we don't want to see what we're seeing ... but we see it, because it's just naked need. And yet - any actor would understand it. It's why people who aren't actors think we're disgusting. Because we need things so nakedly. And people don't like that. People like humility, people like you to "play well with others". Etc. Fine, fine, but that's NEVER who becomes successful. Catherine O'Hara shows that raw HUNGER ... and it's awful. I can see why people may not like this movie because who the heck wants to spend time with someone like that? I happen to be one of those people who thought The Comeback was one of the best TV shows I'd seen in ... 10 years? And I read vicious attacks on it - it really seemed to strike a nerve or something ... I thought it was genius. I love that kind of stuff - and we're in a similar vein here. It's like the best of The Office - Ricky Gervais shows us a character like that. It's very similar to the Catherine O'Hara character ... someone who has such unbelievable need to belong, to be liked ... that you WINCE watching him try to get what he needs. It is ruthless humor. Brutal. One of the reasons I love Christopher Guest and one of the reasons why I loved Ricky Gervais' The Office is that ... even with that kind of brutality, even with the sort of humor that makes the audience wince with discomfort ... there is an affection for the characters. You find yourself rooting for them. You want them to just calm down and do well!!

The journey Catherine O'Hara takes in For Your Consideration is - uhm - well, frankly, there's nothing funny about it - although many of her moments are so funny that you can't even laugh.

But then - like the true magician that she is - she just GOES to the heart of that need - that tragedy of failure, of loss, of not getting what you want ... and it's heart-breaking. Her transformation ends up being one of those moments you never forget. For Your Consideration, unlike many of his other movies, does not have a lot of affection for the world it portrays. It's a bitter film. A cynical bitter film. With a ton of laughs, sure ... but the last scene is brutal. You see what has become of the Catherine O'Hara character ... and Jen and I both were like, "Hooooleee crap."

Everyone's great in it - the whole cast of geniuses - Parker Posey is HILARIOUS (especially in her one-woman show at the end - called "No Penis Intended" - and it's this horrible man-hating rant in a tiny theatre - it's so funny, Jen and I were DYING) ... Jane Lynch is VILE (as she always is - I love that woman) ... Fred Willard is a soulless ignorant smiley jagoff ... (he's a genius) ... Bob Balaban is overly serious, trying to discuss the tradition of Purim on an Entertainment Tonight type show ... like: No. No one cares about your precious thematic elements when you only have 20 seconds to make your pitch. I just love how SERIOUS Balaban is. He's unbelievable. One of my favorites. And Michael McKean is his co-writer - and the two of them are just hysterical together. Trying to maintain SOME control over their words, their property ... but it's so hard not to sell out completely.

Bob Balaban and Michael McKean

And then, of course, the exquisite Jennifer Coolidge - who plays the dimbulb and yet enthusiastic producer (she says in the middle of one meeting, completely clueless, "What is the theme??" Like - she's producing this movie and she doesn't even know what it's about.) She's brilliant.

Jennifer Coolidge

Rachael Harris (new to this ensemble) plays another overly serious actress in the movie within the movie - and she is HILARIOUS. On the set, she's all dour and stern and in character, and actress-y, saying in a quiet passive-aggressive voice to a gaffer or whoever, "Excuse me, could you call me by my character name?" All that kind of crap, and being so serious ... her listening face, nodding, thinking, accepting, pondering - it's a brilliant little cameo - but then you see her at the premiere party, and she is totally babed out like Paris Hilton. It's hysterical.

Deborah Theaker, Jim Piddock and Rachael Harris

Deborah Theaker - a Guest mainstay. She's the one in Waiting for Guffman who says, "I know how the Kennedys must feel." Nobody does gentle self-absorption like this woman. And Jim Piddock is the HILARIOUS dude who also was a dog-show announcer beside Fred Willard in Best in Show - the really proper man, English, horrified at Willard's inanity. But look at him here. He's the cinematographer. He's all spiked out, and cool, and snaps gum - almost totally unrecognizable.

These people are geniuses.

All the mainstays are here ... and to me, now, they feel like old friends. I am happy to see all of them.

Jane Lynch and Fred Willard

But Catherine O'Hara.

Shit. That woman's talent is scary. This actually might be my favorite performance of hers - even though it's certainly not a feel-good part. She is unbelievable. A real idol of mine.

Posted by sheila