Categories this film falls into:

Comedy
Cult

waiting for guffman (1996)

Red, White and Blaine. The musical.

Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy are comic geniuses. Period. This mockumentary about Blaine, Missouri's 150th anniversary is phenomenal. Number 1, their history is hilarious: the founder thinking they'd reached the ocean, making stools for presidents and alien abductions. Number 2, the characters in this saga are all well developed and hilarious: from Steve Stark, the councilman obsessed with Corky, to Ron and Sheila Albertson - the professional actors, to Gwen Fabin-Blunt, a direct descendant of the Fabins who founded Blaine who knows how the Kennedy's feel.

When I watched it the first time, I laughed so much I missed half the wonderful humor in the film. Humor. That's just it - Guest and Levy didn't write a movie full of jokes - they wrote a movie full of humor. There's a difference. The people in this film are taking the 150th celebration and the history of their town very seriously and as such, humor abounds. Yes, we are laughing at them, but we are also laughing with them.

THINGS I LOVE

ALL the characters. Every single one.
The deer horn gun rack.
The 'less is more' acting style - looking at the person when not talking to them.
Red, White and Blaine - the musical. Wow.
Trumpet, timpani and xylophone player - all-in-one!
Steve Stark, council member/pharmacist.

FAVORITE MOMENTS

The auditions. I love all of them - Corky looking at the others on the panel in agreement or disgust.
Corky working on the dance steps.
Confrontation between Lloyd and Corky about the music.
The Chinese restaurant with the Albertsons and the Pearls. Whoa. Just a little too much information...
Libby cooking chicken on the grill.
The steps in A Penny for Your Thoughts and Parker's singing!
Nothing Ever Happens On Mars - very catchy tune.
All of the ending 'where are they now?' interviews.
The 'My Dinner With Andre" action figures. Need I say more, really?
Libby talking about DQ at the end - creating a healthy nonfat blizzard.

QUOTES

Being a Fabin is not always easy. Um. I can certainly understand how the Kennedy's feel. - Gwen Fabin-Blunt
He's tried to help me to change my instincts or at least ignore them. - Sheila
I'm going home and I'm gonna bite my pillow. - Corky
I always have a place at the Dairy Queen. - Libby
It's like in the olden days and the days in France when men would slap each other with their gloves and say, y'know "Dartanion, y'know, how dare you talk to me like that, you" and smack 'em. - Corky
Then I just hate you and I hate your ass face. - Corky
If there's an empty space just say a line. That's what I like to do - even if it's from another show - Ron
We consider ourselves bi-coastal if you consider the Mississippi River one of the coasts. - Ron