Accept no substitutes

Christopher Guest's new film sort of reminded me of Waiting For Guffman, in the way -=- SPOILER ALERT -=- the characters' hopes get built up only to have them inevitably dashed. It's what Guest and his always-brilliant troupe DO with this idea that makes it original in the context it appears (in both films). -=- END OF SPOILER.

Set in Hollywood, For Your Consideration takes a very simple concept and makes it resonate on many levels, while brilliantly maintaining that beyond-quirky off-kilterness that only Guest & Co can pull off.

The thing I've always enjoyed the most about his movies is that they're never mean-spirited, and while For Your Consideration most likely won't attain the mythic status of Tap or Guffman, it's still a wonderful, charming, keenly observed, thoroughly watchable and non-mean-spirited way to spend an hour and a half in the dark with some familiar (and a few not so familiar) 'friends'.