Waiting for Guffman)

Starring:Christopher Guest
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A Mighty Wind
There's A Mighty Wind a-blowin', along with the gales of laughter you'll get from Christopher Guest's third exercise in brilliant "mockumentary." After tackling small-town theatricals in Waiting for Guffman and obsessive dog-show contestants in Best in Show, Guest and his reliable stable of repertory players (including Fred Willard, Parker Posey, and Bob Balaban) apply their improvisational genius to a latter-day reunion of fictional '60s-era folk singers, a comedic goldmine that Guest first explored 30 years earlier on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Collaborating with costar and cowriter Eugene Levy (who gives the film's funniest performance), Guest is so delicate in his satirical approach that the laughs aren't always obvious, and the subtlety can be as wistful (as in Catherine O'Hara's performance as Levy's auto-harpist partner) as it is hilarious. Some may wish for more blatant comedy, but that would compromise the genuine affection that Guest & Co. have for the music they're spoofing. --Jeff Shannon

Best in Show
Christopher Guest, the man behind Waiting for Guffman, turns his comic eye on another little world that takes itself a bit too seriously: the world of competitive dog shows. Best in Show follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. They include the yuppie pair (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) who fear they've traumatized their Weimaraner by having sex in front of him; a suburban husband and wife (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) with a terrier and a long history of previous lovers on the wife's part; the Southern owner of a bloodhound (Guest himself) with aspirations as a ventriloquist; and many more. Following the same "mockumentary" format of Spinal Tap and Guffman, Best in Show takes in some of the dog show officials, the manager of a nearby hotel that allows dogs to stay there, and the commentators of the competition (a particularly knockout comic turn by Fred Willard as an oafish announcer). The movie manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their obsessive world. Almost all of the scenes were created through improvisation. While lacking the overall focus of a written script, Best in Show captures hilarious and absurd aspects of human behavior that could never be written down. The movie's success is a testament to both the talent of the actors and Guest's discerning eye. --Bret Fetzer

Waiting for Guffman
One of the funniest films in many a moon was hiding at art house theaters in 1998. Former Saturday Night Live comedian and Spinal Tap member Christopher Guest creates the ultimate parody of small-town dramatics, Waiting for Guffman. Corky St. Claire (Guest), an overwhelming drama director hiding out in Blaine, Missouri, thinks he has found the vehicle to put him back on Broadway: the city's 150th anniversary play, Red, White, and Blaine. As rehearsals start, we learn of the town's history ("the stool capital of the world") including a brush with a UFO. The mockumentary follows the various townsfolk wishing for stardom: Parker Posey as a Dairy Queen clerk, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard as stage-struck travel agents, Matthew Keeslar as the town's bad boy, and Eugene Levy (who cowrote the film with Guest) as a dentist who dreams of glory on the stage. The film is a hoot from beginning to end, and be sure to watch the closing credits. Fans of Guest's deft dry humor should not miss his other parody of the entertainment world, The Big Picture (Kevin Bacon as a student filmmaker who goes to Hollywood). --Doug Thomas
Description
A MIGHTY WIND: Documentary-style Comedy. Christopher Guest follows up his acclaimed ensemble comedies Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman with a docu-comedy about three folk groups from the 60s who reunite for a memorial concert in New York City following the death of a legendary folk manager. BEST IN SHOW: The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN: A town of Blaine, Missouri is preparing for celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Corky St.Clair, an off-off-off-off-off-Broadway director is putting together an amateur theater show about the town's history, starring a local dentist, a couple of travel agents, a Dairy Queen waitress, and a car repairman. He invites a Broadway theater critic Mr. Guffman to see the opening night of the show

Christopher Guest Collection (A Mighty Wind / Best in Show / Waiting for Guffman)
Average customer rating:

You either love it or hate it----and I love it

i've talked about brittish comedy at its best but now here's american comedy at its best

great films, poor packaging

Three great movies, but what's so special about the price?

Fantastic Movies, Terrible Presentation

Christopher Guest Collection (A Mighty Wind / Best in Show / Waiting for Guffman)
Starring: Christopher Guest
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
Guest, Christopher | ( G ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video
Comedy | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
Music Video & Concerts | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
All Titles | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Christopher Guest 3-Pack (A Mighty Wind / Waiting for Guffman / Best in Show)

ASIN: B0000ALFVF
Release Date: 2003-09-23

Amazon.com

A Mighty Wind
There's A Mighty Wind a-blowin', along with the gales of laughter you'll get from Christopher Guest's third exercise in brilliant "mockumentary." After tackling small-town theatricals in Waiting for Guffman and obsessive dog-show contestants in Best in Show, Guest and his reliable stable of repertory players (including Fred Willard, Parker Posey, and Bob Balaban) apply their improvisational genius to a latter-day reunion of fictional '60s-era folk singers, a comedic goldmine that Guest first explored 30 years earlier on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Collaborating with costar and cowriter Eugene Levy (who gives the film's funniest performance), Guest is so delicate in his satirical approach that the laughs aren't always obvious, and the subtlety can be as wistful (as in Catherine O'Hara's performance as Levy's auto-harpist partner) as it is hilarious. Some may wish for more blatant comedy, but that would compromise the genuine affection that Guest & Co. have for the music they're spoofing. --Jeff Shannon

Best in Show
Christopher Guest, the man behind Waiting for Guffman, turns his comic eye on another little world that takes itself a bit too seriously: the world of competitive dog shows. Best in Show follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. They include the yuppie pair (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) who fear they've traumatized their Weimaraner by having sex in front of him; a suburban husband and wife (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) with a terrier and a long history of previous lovers on the wife's part; the Southern owner of a bloodhound (Guest himself) with aspirations as a ventriloquist; and many more. Following the same "mockumentary" format of Spinal Tap and Guffman, Best in Show takes in some of the dog show officials, the manager of a nearby hotel that allows dogs to stay there, and the commentators of the competition (a particularly knockout comic turn by Fred Willard as an oafish announcer). The movie manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their obsessive world. Almost all of the scenes were created through improvisation. While lacking the overall focus of a written script, Best in Show captures hilarious and absurd aspects of human behavior that could never be written down. The movie's success is a testament to both the talent of the actors and Guest's discerning eye. --Bret Fetzer

Waiting for Guffman
One of the funniest films in many a moon was hiding at art house theaters in 1998. Former Saturday Night Live comedian and Spinal Tap member Christopher Guest creates the ultimate parody of small-town dramatics, Waiting for Guffman. Corky St. Claire (Guest), an overwhelming drama director hiding out in Blaine, Missouri, thinks he has found the vehicle to put him back on Broadway: the city's 150th anniversary play, Red, White, and Blaine. As rehearsals start, we learn of the town's history ("the stool capital of the world") including a brush with a UFO. The mockumentary follows the various townsfolk wishing for stardom: Parker Posey as a Dairy Queen clerk, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard as stage-struck travel agents, Matthew Keeslar as the town's bad boy, and Eugene Levy (who cowrote the film with Guest) as a dentist who dreams of glory on the stage. The film is a hoot from beginning to end, and be sure to watch the closing credits. Fans of Guest's deft dry humor should not miss his other parody of the entertainment world, The Big Picture (Kevin Bacon as a student filmmaker who goes to Hollywood). --Doug Thomas

Description

A MIGHTY WIND: Documentary-style Comedy. Christopher Guest follows up his acclaimed ensemble comedies Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman with a docu-comedy about three folk groups from the 60s who reunite for a memorial concert in New York City following the death of a legendary folk manager. BEST IN SHOW: The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. WAITING FOR GUFFMAN: A town of Blaine, Missouri is preparing for celebrations of its 150th anniversary. Corky St.Clair, an off-off-off-off-off-Broadway director is putting together an amateur theater show about the town's history, starring a local dentist, a couple of travel agents, a Dairy Queen waitress, and a car repairman. He invites a Broadway theater critic Mr. Guffman to see the opening night of the show

Customer Reviews:

You either love it or hate it----and I love it.......2007-01-03

I admit to an unexplained fondness for clever parody and satire. These three films by Christopher Guest fall right into my slot. Each highlights a different form of unwarranted self-importance, but rarely crosses the line of easy insults or demeaning caricature. The realism is ----well, very real (although it doesn't go to 11 as in an earlier semi-related film).

All the characters are clearly drawn from real life. Although employing many of the same actors in diverse roles, the films allow each individual improv performer to shine a unique light that fully illuminates the target subjects. My two 20-ish daugthers and I often quote from these films. The biting wit is timeless. Outstanding talent, craftsmanship, and creativity forms the heart of all these stories. Very, very funny stuff.

i've talked about brittish comedy at its best but now here's american comedy at its best.......2006-08-18

great and hillarious!!! a mighty wind, best in show, waiting for guffman...i have watched theses movies countless times and it still shockes me how funny and side splitting these perfectly hillarious movies are!!!

a must get for everyone out there!!!

great films, poor packaging.......2005-02-04

The DVDs are great. They have lots of great extras, including commentary on additional scenes, insightful commentary in general, cast bios, etc. I was disappointed in the packaging -- flimsy cardboard and are smaller than more traditional packages.

I received these as a gift, and I think that as a gift, they are great.

I have watched these films over and over again and enjoy them each time. The acting is incredible and it amazes me that it's improvised -- the actors make it look so easy, which means it must be difficult! In A Mighty Wind, all the actors sing and play their own instruments, with some learning just for this film. Great dedication to their artform.

Three great movies, but what's so special about the price?.......2004-01-12

I'm tempted to dock one star mainly because you'd actually pay LESS buying them separately than in this "special" package. ($14.99 each for Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, $23.76 for Mighty Wind = $53.74). The three-fer costs over $55. What gives? Well, I suppose you save something on shipping.

Regardless, these three films are easily worth the money at either price.

Fantastic Movies, Terrible Presentation.......2004-01-09

Boo, Warner Brothers!!!

You've taken three amazing movies and packaged them terribly.

I was extremely excited to have received this "box set" for Christmas, until I unwrapped it. It's three seperate loose DVDs with no box to tie them all together. And to add insult to injury, all of the DVDs are encased in the old-school type packaging with the cheap cardboard cover and black "snap" latch.

Very disappointing. Warner Brothers SUCKS! They really need to work on how they showcase their work on DVD in the future. They could take a real hint from New Line which always releases their best films with pride and flair.

Amazon.com

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) solemnly alerts us to the glory that was Spinal Tap in his introduction to this "rockumentary" about the legendary British heavy-metal group, featuring lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and a succession of drummers whose careers were cut short by spontaneously combusting on their stool, drowning in somebody else's vomit, or otherwise perishing in untimely fashion. Under DiBergi's studious interrogation, the band and their familiars retrace the band's evolution from head-bopping Mersey Beat poseurs to head-banging metal poseurs, each change in musical direction or tonsorial chic having little effect on the surviving trio's sublime idiocy. For, as St. Hubbins (he's the "deep" one, relatively speaking) sagely observes, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."

Happily for us, director Reiner, who developed the underlying story line with Guest and former Credibility Gap pranksters McKean and Shearer, stays squarely on the right side of the line, even as his writer-actors remain hilariously trapped on the other side. In lieu of a formal shooting script, the quartet created an extensive and detailed band history ripe with the sort of dead-pan detail that hard-core rock historians and screwball aficionados will savor on countless replays; with the three Tap members also musicians themselves, the "band" developed its stage act under the unsuspecting noses of L.A. club denizens, who accepted them as just as loud, flashy, sexist, and obvious as any other mullet-tressed, leather-garbed brigade of guitar slingers, circa 1984. The resulting footage thus manages to lob its punch lines and build its characters (including some thinly veiled character assassinations of various industry folks) with a loose, tossed-away verve rooted in the improvisational approach. This Is Spinal Tap remains the funniest, and most truthful, look at rock culture ever filmed and a personal best for all involved. --Sam Sutherland

Description

Rob Reiner's directorial debut has developed into a cult phenomenon. The film that invented the "rockumentary" has now outlasted most of the bands it mocked. Following the ill-fated American comeback tour of an aging heavy metal group, this film has joined the ranks of the greatest comedies ever made.

Customer Reviews:

Stretches a joke too far.......2007-06-30

I tried to like this movie, but it's really a 5 minute joke stretched too far. In fact it's gone on now for nearly a quarter century. Isn't enough is enough? Apparently not.

Yes, rock music can be silly sometimes, but basing careers out of a parody of it is surely stretching it.

I smiled a bit for the first few minutes. After that it felt like being hit over the head with a club. "Hey it's funny, see? Did you see that joke we made? Funny! Oh and here's another one! It's funnier than the similar one we made an hour ago! Isn't this hilarious?!"

I was never offended by it, if that's why you think I gave it a low rating. I was just bored at how tedious the film became.

Should have been a 5 minute skit on Saturday Night Live or something.

Awesomely funny!.......2007-06-18

I love the dry humor of this movie. I've been a huge music fan for years and love the way the various scenarios are blown out of proportion. For example, the little bread, big meat catering problem. You'll have to watch the movie to know what I'm talking about. If you need more of an "in your face" sort of humor, then this movie is not for you.

"What's wrong with being sexy?".......2007-05-24

I'm a huge metal fan. Whether hair metal, old school, nu metal, alt-metal, prog metal or death metal, I like 'em all. We're talking Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Korn, Poison, Nirvana, Tool, Anthrax, System of a Down, Savatage, Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Lamb of God, Queensryche, Sepultura, Shockplate and many more. And with that enjoyment of heavy metal comes an appreciation of the greatest rock satire of all-time:
"This Is Spinal Tap."

Directed by Rob Reiner ("When Harry Met Sally") -- who also doubles as budding documentarian Marty DiBergi -- this mockumentary follows the floundering career of the once-great Spinal Tap. Led by guitarist/vocalist David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), guitarist/vocalist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), the Tap is ready to embark on what will surely be a hugely successful tour in support of their new album.

Alas, a variety of dastardly forces unite to ruin Spinal Tap's big tour, from meddling record execs to politically correct organizations to women who, well, are just frightened of the band because they have armadillos in their trousers. Infighting within the band, a mysterious Yoko Ono-esque character, and the band's inability to make it from the dressing room to the stage without getting lost don't help the cause, either. Can the band overcome hardship and rekindle their former glory, or will they be stuck playing barmitzvahs?

Despite a lean running time of 82 minutes, This Is Spinal Tap manages to lampoon an impressive number of rock and metal cliches. The result is a plethora of classic scenes and one-liners, such as when Spinal Tap's guitarist shows off his amps to director Marty DiBergi, and brags about how it's so loud it "goes to 11." When DiBergi asks why he just doesn't make 10 louder, the guitarist looks puzzled for a moment before offering his deadpan response: "This one goes to 11."

The film is also filled with live performances of such Spinal Tap classics as "Big Bottom," "Hell Hole," and "Sex Farm." Each is as hilarious as its title would suggest and does a great job of skewering the big dumb sex mentality of many hard rock bands.

Despite its greatness, "This Is Spinal Tap" does suffer a bit from the fact that it pre-dated the heyday of the hair metal explosion, which could have lent itself to some more good gags that seem to be missing from the film. And some of the jokes here have copied so many times they probably don't seem as fresh as they did more than 20 years ago. But considering, for example,that Spinal Tap's "black" album pre-dated Metallica's by seven years, it's hard to complain too much.

"This Is Spinal Tap" rewards repeat viewings, as it delivers as much subtle humor as in-your-face laughs. Keep an eye out for cameos by stars such as Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby and Dana Carvey. The Special Edition DVD, boasting a hilarious intro, incredibly funny commentary track, and hours of solid deleted scenes, is a must-watch. Whether you're a rock or heavy metal fan -- or even if you hate these genres -- you'll get a kick out of "This Is Spinal Tap."

Absolutely Brilliant !!.......2007-05-23

One of the funniest movies ever made ! I won't add to the product descriptions,plenty of reviews for that.But I will add some observations.
I've lived in Austin,Tx ,"The Live Music Capitol of the World" ,for the past 30 years, & have known many in the music scene .And no one loves this movie more than the musicians that it skewers.Especially the metal acts . If you ever want to crack one of them up,drop a line from Spinal Tap .Everyone will end up quoting their own favorite line.The smart ones see the joke/danger.The others don't make it and/or end up as jokes themselves.
Second thing is,the "in character"voice commentaries alone are worth the price for any fan wondering why to buy this edition.It is just as brilliant in concept as the movie itself.
Third thing.Spinal Tap was obviously based on several bands and an entire genre to a degree.But my favorite candidate for "most based on" is the '70's band Uriah Heep.They were famous for changing drummers,even changing in mid-album once.I'm a child of the 70's and still listen to them occasionaly.But now I can't keep the grin off my face & keep thinking of that thin,fine line between stupid & clever.Long live Rock 'N Roll !!

BEST MOVIE EVER.......2007-05-23

I just love this movie. It has so many classic moments. Like Nigels guitar collection. The black album. The drummers. Just watch it. HILARIOUS!

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