Hot-buttered opinion on the latest flicks

For Your Consideration

Thu., Nov. 16, 2006 4:34 PM PST by Dezhda Mountz

B-

In For Your Consideration, "mockumentarian" Christopher Guest switches to a narrative structure and imagines what would happen when a twee indie film gains Oscar buzz.

Nothing is sacred: Overwrought actors, slick showbiz reporters and flaky publicists all get their 15 minutes. Guest's ensemble—including stalwarts Parker Posey, cowriter Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara—handily reinvents these archetypes, but the characters are fleshed out more with jokes than actual backstory. The actors' confessionals to camera that usually pepper Guest's movies are gone here and sorely missed.

The jaded subject matter doesn't help, either. There's no hero, no one to truly root for, and beneath the jokes is an air of bitterness and disappointment. This is a comedy? Sure, a comedy about Hollywood. For Your Consideration accurately hits La-La Land where it hurts, but at the expense of the rich characterization and sweet-natured comedy that made Guest's other flicks instant classics. Too bad.