| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| randall |
Posted - 11/08/2006 : 12:11:43
We saw the latest Christopher Guest movie last night at Lincoln Center. It was a slight departure from Guest's previous three, in that this story is told in narrative style, not as a faux documentary. Afterwards, Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara [who does a star turn here], Harry Shearer and Parker Posey took questions from the audience. I asked Guest and Levy whether this was a permanent change of course, and they indicated that it was. It still has the same improvisational "feel" as the classic three [and is just as funny, with added room here for real pathos as several actors come to believe they're about to get Oscar nominations], but this time there are scenes from a movie-within-the-movie, HOME FOR PURIM, which were scripted. The rest of the film was improvised from character outlines, as usual.
New to the Guest repertory company is Ricky Gervais, who does a wonderful job. Guest, a big fan of the British THE OFFICE, told us that not only was this Gervais's feature film debut, but that he had never improvised before on film, and was quite nervous about the prospect. [THE OFFICE merely appears to be improvised; in actuality every scene is scripted.] |
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