Waiting for Guffman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There's not much that I love more than the comedic mind of Christopher Guest. No man, not even retro Mel Brooks, has made me cry with laughter like Guest -- the wacky dancing of Corky St. Clair, the dysfunctional yuppiedom of the Swans, the bleary sadness of Mitch Cohen, and the plastic surgery of Marilyn Hack. But For Your Consideration might be the end.

In a discussion with MTV, Jane Lynch revealed some good, and not so good news about the world-o-Guest. On the bright side, it seems like Waiting for Guffman might be headed to Broadway, which is just about the best idea to come out of the world of movies-on-Broadway. Unfortunately, she also says that she thinks Guest's done making movies: "I haven't heard any rumblings. Parker Posey and I have put our heads together and decided we think it might be over." Granted, this is only rumor at this point, but while I'd be terribly saddened by it being confirmed, I wouldn't be surprised.

But I'd rather see him go out on top. For Your Consideration had some brilliant moments, but it wasn't the film his previous efforts were. I've always held out hope that one of these days, he'd bring wife Jamie Lee Curtis into the fold, so hopefully he's not done yet. But if he is, maybe we can at least see the old cast come together for the first run of Guffman on Broadway? I'm sure I'm not the only one who would travel anywhere and give my first born for the chance to see Guest, Eugene Levy, David Cross, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Larry Miller, Bob Balaban, Matt Keeslar, Don Lake, Michael Hitchcock, and Deborah Theaker reprise their roles on the stage. But if not, and Lynch got her wish to be in Guffman, who should she play?

This week Entertainment Weekly is "Counting Down the New Movie Classics," listing the best films made in the past 25 years. The magazine claims that all 100 are good enough to be considered alongside the usual classics (you know, like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, etc.), but I guess that's relative. I wouldn't consider #99, The Blair Witch Project, to be equated with Poltergeist III, let alone Psycho. But isn't that the fun of these lists? They fuel our excitement about cinema while also angering us that our favorites aren't higher up, or more commonly, that the films we hate most are included on any list, ever.

On the first day of the countdown, EW shows us the bottom 25, which includes such masterpieces as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Breaking the Waves, In the Mood for Love and Full Metal Jacket. When I saw that the last of these was only at #94, I got really excited, wondering what 93 films could possibly be better. And then I was shocked to see that so-so comedies like Swingers and Waiting for Guffman and the fine but poorly aged Moonstruck placed higher. I almost didn't even see those titles, though, because I almost threw my computer when I saw that Napoleon Dynamite was just ahead of Back to the Future. Just another reason to hate Napoleon Dynamite, I guess. Even the Back to the Future sequels are better than ND, but I'm going to now assume they don't even make it on this list.

#s 75-51 will be revealed tomorrow. I wonder what kind of delights and blasphemies will meet us then.

The latest in the vdubrocks campaign ads features one of my fave directors, Christopher Guest, reprising his This is Spinal Tap character, Nigel Tufnel. You can check out Nigel rocking it out in his highly fashionable kilt, black tshirt, tube socks and sneakers, while standing on (and falling off of) the roof of a white Jetta rising up from the stage, while white Rabbits mark the four corners of the stage. The first ad in the campaign featured U2s Slash** rocking the casbah with black GTIs set up like amp stacks. Personally, I think its hilarious that they've brought Nigel, a fake musician, out of the vaults for this campaign.

Watching Nigel rock it out in the ad, I couldn't help but think ... wouldn't it be cool for Guest to bring Spinal Tap back for a new mockuementary about the aging rock-and-rollers getting together for a reunion show for VH1? I can't be the only person out there who would love to see Tufnel, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) bringing it on again, right? The "band" reunited a couple of times in the past, in 1992 for the album Break Like the Wind, for which they did a promo tour and "videos", in 1998 for a short film called Spinal Tap: The Final Tour, in 2000 when they launched a mock website called "Tapster," and in 2001 for a "Back From the Dead" tour that spanned nine cities. Oh, and there was a 2004 documentary about the band as well.

But seriously -- we've had Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Isn't it about time we saw Spinal Tap back on the big screen -- utilizing the rest of the of Guest's fab ensemble cast? Picture Catherine O'Hara and Jennifer Coolidge as aging groupies! Parker Posey as, say, Nigel's daughter -- or better yet, as a younger groupie competing against O'Hara for the band's attention. And while we're at it, how about Guest in duel roles? He could reprise Corky St. Clair as the director of the reunion show! Oh, the possibilities are endless. Who else out there would love to see Guest bring back Spinal Tap?

[ via our sister site, Autoblog ]

**SIncerest apologies to both Slash (who, as our readers pointed out, is from Guns 'n Roses, NOT U2, and to The Edge, who IS from U2, for my error there. And thanks to our readers for pointing it out. And yes, I grew up on both bands, and yes, I know better. Shame, shame on me. I guess I have to give back my cool 1980s jean jacket covered with safety pins and rock band buttons now, along with my hip collection of U2 and GNR cassette tapes. Darn. -KV