Review: For Your Consideration

The newest Christopher Guest movie has more of the same (ensemble cast, outrageous ad-libbing, idiosyncratic characters) and the addition of The Office's Ricky Gervais in a pair of awkward-humor scenes reminiscent of David Brent. Highlights: Gervais' take on Jewishness, the most incompetent interviews ever from Fred Willard, and an awful-looking film occasionally named Home for Purim. Lowlights: less laughs than last time, and short runtime (86 minutes.) If the movie isn't going to be very funny, you probably shouldn't have it be long, but a long, funny movie is the best of both worlds. For Your Consideration is probably the weakest of the Guest/McKean/Shearer collaborations, and there aren't enough moments for the incidental characters to shine. If the filming was done last October, why couldn't they cobble together more of a film from the footage? Were hours lost in a warehouse fire? Ultimately, I recommend the film for the genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, of which there are several, but this one is more of a dollar-theater or rent-before-you-buy movie. Here's hoping the DVD has something extra to make it worth it.