WAITING FOR GUFFMAN

Perverting the Lake Wobegon-type humor about small town living, and with all the crazy antics of a pseudo-documentary, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN deliberately attacks small-town middle American values. The story revolves around Corky St. Clair, played by Christopher Guest, a homosexual theater director in the small town of Blaine, Missouri. When Corky decides to take over the production of the town’s 150th Anniversary celebration, a fury of preparation ensues. Expectations run high among the small band of profoundly naïve participants who dream of Broadway careers and hitting the big time.

From the handsome young Johnny Savage (Matt Keeslar), son of the local mechanic, to the odd couple of Ron and Sheila Albertson (Fred Willard and Catherine O’Hara), travel agents who have never been outside of Blaine, the palette of characters is rich with biting sarcasm that ridicules small town stereotypes. As the production of “Red, White and Blaine” takes shape, word is received that a scout from an unspecified Broadway production company will be attending the show. This word stimulates a scurry of pipe dreams and ambitions of fame that stretch the mediocre talent to laughable and preposterous proportions. The egos and great expectations of simple participants are turned inside-out when terrible news is announced.

Corky spends a great deal of time buying women’s clothing for his supposed wife whom no one has ever seen. The movie bashes the so-called homophobic stand of middle American morality Here in this small town, a homosexual theater director pretends to be married in order to prove himself no different from anyone else, in order to prove that his lifestyle is completely normal and acceptable. This summarizes the only real message of the film from start to finish.

Production costs must have been extremely low. The entire film is directed by an unspecified interviewer in a documentary interview format, which quickly becomes an annoyance. (In SPINAL TAP, Guest, as guitarist Nigel Tufnel, was clearly interviewed by director Rob Reiner.) While the writing is clever, the light nature of the comedy seems better suited to a “Saturday Night Live” short-skit format. Apart from a few laughs, there is little else appealing about the movie. Created for a very eclectic and decidedly pro-homosexual crowd, it seems that Hollywood is not getting the message that America does not want to endorse such a morally bankrupt lifestyle.