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641 points shortformblog | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.225s | source
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vanderZwan ◴[] No.42950360[source]
> Anyway, Waiting for Guffman still holds up, and you can watch it on YouTube, for free.

On top of that it never was released outside of the US before! As a European fan of Spinal Tap I'm quite excited to finally be able to see this film.

Also: no mention of The Mission, which is also in the list? That's quite a critically acclaimed one. Just look at these opening paragraphs from its wikipedia page:

> The Mission is a 1986 British historical drama film about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America.[4] Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Robert Bolt, the film stars Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, and Liam Neeson.

> The film premiered in competition at the 39th Cannes Film Festival, winning the Palme d'Or. At the 59th Academy Awards it was nominated for seven awards including Best Picture and Best Director, winning for Best Cinematography. The film has also been cited as one of the greatest religious films of all time, appearing in the Vatican film list's "Religion" section and being number one on the Church Times' Top 50 Religious Films list.

Oh, and the score is by a certain Ennio Morricone.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IpNXw6Y05M&list=PL7Eup7JXSc...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mission_(1986_film)

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shermantanktop ◴[] No.42952168[source]
Waiting For Guffman is a great movie...Christopher Guest has done quite a few in this vein but IMO Guffman is the best.
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1. sharkweek ◴[] No.42953172[source]
Waiting For Guffman is perfect, up there in my Mount Rushmore of comedy films.

The true genius is that where it would be really easy to be mocking these small town people and their hokey play, the movie toes the line flawlessly of making sure the viewer isn’t really laughing AT them all that much. It’s also worth noting that the play itself at the end isn’t a disaster but actually a wonderfully produced show that the audience and town love.

I think Guest’s more recent films went a bit too far into the “mocking” part of the Mocumentary, but Guffman doesn’t.

Also worth mentioning Catherine O’Hara drunk in the Chinese restaurant might be one of the most realistic portrayals of being drunk I’ve seen in a movie.