Hacker Cinema
Waiting for Guffman
1997 · Film · 84 min
Directed by Christopher Guest
Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.
5 positive1 neutralfrom 6 commenters
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6 comments on Hacker News
Waiting For Guffman is perfect, up there in my Mount Rushmore of comedy films.
The true genius is that where it would be really easy to be mocking these small town people and their hokey play, the movie toes the line flawlessly of making sure the viewer isn’t really laughing AT them all that much. It’s also worth noting that the play itself at the end isn’t a disaster but actually a wonderfully produced show that the audience and town love.
I think Guest’s more recent films went a bit too far into the “mocking” part of the Mocumentary, but Guffman doesn’t.
Also worth mentioning Catherine O’Hara drunk in the Chinese restaurant might be one of the most realistic portrayals of being drunk I’ve seen in a movie.
> As a European fan of Spinal Tap I'm quite excited to finally be able to see this film.
You're in for a treat. While somewhat similar, Waiting for Guffman is a bit different than Spinal Tap. It has layers to the satire that are even more subtle. Not as many call back lines destined to live in memes forever (eg "It goes to eleven"). It's more of a character study that's willing to simply bask in the absolute vacuum of unself-awareness long enough to let it wrap back on itself and evolve into sincere charm. Eugene Levy is a treat as always and Fred Willard's performance evokes echoes of his legendary work on Fernwood Tonight.
Waiting For Guffman is a great movie...Christopher Guest has done quite a few in this vein but IMO Guffman is the best.
> Anyway, Waiting for Guffman still holds up, and you can watch it on YouTube, for free.
On top of that it never was released outside of the US before! As a European fan of Spinal Tap I'm quite excited to finally be able to see this film.
Also: no mention of The Mission, which is also in the list? That's quite a critically acclaimed one. Just look at these opening paragraphs from its wikipedia page:
> The Mission is a 1986 British historical drama film about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America.[4] Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Robert Bolt, the film stars Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, and Liam Neeson.
> The film premiered in competition at the 39th Cannes Film Festival, winning the Palme d'Or. At the 59th Academy Awards it was nominated for seven awards including Best Picture and Best Director, winning for Best Cinematography. The film has also been cited as one of the greatest religious films of all time, appearing in the Vatican film list's "Religion" section and being number one on the Church Times' Top 50 Religious Films list.
Oh, and the score is by a certain Ennio Morricone.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IpNXw6Y05M&list=PL7Eup7JXScZyvRftA2Q5hv69XiegDm6tQ&index=27
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(1986_film)
A link to just the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7Eup7JXScZyvRftA2Q5hv69XiegDm6tQ
From IMDb:
The 11th Hour (2007, Documentary, 7.2) The Wind and the Lion (1975, Adventure Epic, 6.8) Mr. Nice Guy (1997, Martial Arts Dark Comedy, 6.2) City Heat (1984, Buddy Cop, 5.5) Michael Collins (1996, Docudrama, 7.1) The Adventures Of Pluto Nash (2002, Space Sci-Fi Comedy, 3.9) Chaos Theory (2007, Comedy Drama Romance, 6.6) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962, Historical Globetrotting Adventure, 7.2) Dungeons & Dragons (2000, Adventure Fantasy, 3.7) Return Of The Living Dead Part II (1988, Zombie Horror Comedy, 5.7) The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990, Dark Comedy, 5.6) The Accidental Tourist (1988, Comedy Drama Romance, 6.7) Critters 4 (1992, Horror Sci-Fi, 4.1) Murder in the First (1995, Legal Thriller, 7.3) The Year of Living Dangerously (1982, Drama Romance War, 7.1) December Boys (2007, Drama Romance, 6.5) Waiting for Guffman (1996, Satire, 7.4) Lionheart (1987, Adventure Drama, 5.1) Oh, God! (1977, Comedy Fantasy, 6.6) Crossing Delancey (1988, Comedy Romance, 6.9) Price of Glory (2000, Drama Sport, 6.1) Flight of the Living Dead (2007, Horror, 5.1) Deal of the Century (1983, Dark Comedy Satire Crime, 4.6) Deathtrap (1982, Dark Comedy Suspense Mystery, 7.0) The Mission (1986, Historical Epic Jungle Adventure, 7.4) SubUrbia (1996, Comedy Drama, 6.7) Hot To Trot (1988, Comedy Fantasy, 4.5) True Stories (1986, Comedy Musical, 7.2) The Science of Sleep (2006, Quirky Comedy Drama Romance, 7.2) The Big Tease (1999, Comedy, 6.1)
> "anyone can become a concert pianist"
There's a huge range of skill between "concert pianist" and "no good at piano." That's kind of the point of the speech, I think
There are hundreds of pianists with a very high degree of skill, but that are not concert pianists. Many are essentially freelancers and take gigs as they come-- choir accompanist, pit orchestra pianist, keyboardist in a band, resident organist in a church... etc.. Many of those pianists are quite skilled and talented, even if they are nowhere near skilled and talented enough to be a reknowned "concert pianist" like Murray Perahia, Emanuel Ax, Alicia de Larrocha, Mituko Uchida, etc..
The excessive focus on the idea of a "concert pianist" talent leads to this situation where the day to day programmers aren't getting the credit they deserve. For more on the under-appreciated musician analogy: watch the movie Waiting for Guffman and pay attention to the musicians. The dialog in the movie basically never acknowledges them. They're completely taken for granted by the other characters, but they are impeccable-- easily the most professional performers in the production. There's one point where one is playing the trumpet and timpani at the same time. I think that's the idea-- solid, productive programmers not being recognized for their talent, because they're compared to some incredibly high ideal.
Though there's also this dunning-kruger thing where lots of mediocre programmers think they are way more skilled than they actually are either because they're the best programmer in their little bubble, because they're a devout adherent to some specific coding religion, but haven't ever really been measured against an objective standard. Specifically because there are so many words wasted on "rock stars" and "ninjas" as well as blubbers and someone's personal experience with some horrible developer whose incompetence caused so many problems, etc...