After four films together, the most rewarding charms in director Christopher Guest's comedies are how the familiar faces in his ensemble are utilized and which new additions show the most promise. His latest, the nearly weightless Hollywood satire "For Your Consideration," is no exception.
Look, there's Fred Willard, stealing scenes as an TV entertainment host with a bad fauxhawk, and John Michael Higgins, stealing everything else as a daffy studio publicist. Hey, there's Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer and Parker Posey, starring in a hilariously awful melodrama called "Home for Purim." Welcome to the fold, Ricky Gervais, the genius behind TV's "The Office"; wish they gave you more than a few memorable lines as a slick studio head.
If it seems like I was underwhelmed by "For Your Consideration," it's only by comparison. Guest did the bitter Hollywood satire thing better in his first film, 1989's "The Big Picture." His ensemble comedies have now shown diminishing returns since the classic pet-o-phile farce "Best in Show." He even dumps the "mockumentary" format in "For Your Consideration," making it feel more "Curb Your Enthusiasm" than "Spinal Tap." It's a change that not only throws off Guest's dependable comic timing, but robs the film of the rich character sketches that made the dog owners in "Best in Show" and the townie thespians in "Waiting for Guffman" so vividly realized.
The film's not a total loss. "For Your Consideration" lands some punishing body blows to the Hollywood media, lampooning its shallowness and its slavery to anonymous internet gossip. It also offers some painfully accurate insights into how actors and studios react to Oscar buzz, which hits the set of "Purim" like a tsunami of hollow hype. (The film-within-a-film is a frequently funny Borscht Belt version of a Tennessee Williams play.)
Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy are at their best when they're at their most personal, with uncomfortable observations on growing older in Hollywood. Like one character who journeys from star-struck Oscar hopeful to Botoxed hack acting coach, you can feel them questioning their own relevance. It may not be side-splitting, but at least it's honest.