Reviews (333)

JUST THE BOX ART WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH!
Christopher Guest is Corky St. Clair, small town Blaine ("The Stool capitol of the world"), Missouri's resident community theater director. With plans of getting back to Broadway, he has created a musical extravaganza "Red, White and Blaine" to celebrate the town's 150th anniversary.

This sly, often hilarious, mock documentary features Guest's resident troupe of improvisational actors -- Eugene Levy (co-writer), Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard and Bob Balaban as the stage-struck locals who pin their amateur hopes on being discovered when Corky hints that legendary talent scout Mort Guffman will be in the audience.

If you appreciated "Best In Show," than check out its predecessor. Over 80 hours of film were shot in Super 16mm and edited down to a brisk 84 minutes. The widescreen print is especially sharp and the sound is clear. Co-writers and stars Guest and Levy share a loose and funny commentary and there's at least 30 minutes of whimsical and surprisingly poignant deleted scenes with optional commentary. Recommended.

"Is it karma? - Maybe."
This is what director 'Corky St Claire' has the NERVE to say, congratulating himself on the progress of his self-penned show, 'Red, White and Blaine'. This 'mockumentary' is THE FUNNIEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN! It has it's own 'groove', and once you get onto the Guffman wave-length, you soon become an addict! Christopher Guest delivers his finest performance ever as small town Blaine's resident 'creative type', a tubby, autocratic drama teacher with 'off-off Broadway' experience. The fictional town of Blaine is so 'small town' that the fact that Corky is obviously gay never enters their thoughts; he's 'creative' (and 'from New York'!) The supporting cast, however, are in danger of stealing the movie from under his feet! Parker Posey is pathetically delightful as 'Libby Mae', a Dairy Queen employee who dreams of hitting Broadway so she can "meet Italian guys". Also praisworthy are the characters of "Ron" and "Sheila", a married couple of zero-talents who "Corky" dubbs 'The Lunts of Blaine'. Yet the real prize has to go to Eugene Levy as "Dr Pearl", the local dentist who lands a starring role in 'Red, White and Blaine'. "Dr Pearl" fancies himself as a comedian ("At family functions, I love breaking people up.") and Levy SOMEHOW manages to be hilariously funny playing a character who TRIES to be funny - and ISN'T! Anyone who has ever been involved with local theatre on any level whatsoever will ADORE this movie! Not only does it take a playful stab at Middle America, it ALSO pokes fun at the documentary genre itself (those tense close-ups, those hand-held cameras!) The cleverest, most intelligent comedy in years - 'Waiting for Guffman' has become a cult movie, and quite rightly!

After years, and years of clinical research.
I have determined that this is funniest movie of all time. If you don't agree with me, or even worse, if you don't
"get it", you are part of the problem, and deserve everything
you have coming to you.

"I find I have no feeling in my buttocks."
Hey Amazon censor - "buttocks" is not a bad word. Lighten up :-)

"Waiting For Guffman" is another Christopher Guest-and-ensemble-cast mockumentary, this time involving community theater in Blaine, Missouri, "the stool capital of the world."

There was no real script, but the actors did have certain plot-points to work around, and they pull off a very funny movie.

The musical in the movie, entitled "Red, White, and Blaine" is to be performed on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of Blaine, which involved cross-country wagoneers who at night believed they had reached the Pacific ocean, but when the sun rose they discovered they did not quite make it, subsequent quality stool manufacturing, and alien abduction.

There is the crop-circle scientist who explains that although the diameter and circumference change slightly, the radius is always the same, as is the weather - "when you step into that circle it is always 67 degrees with a 40 percent chance of rain - always".

There is the alien abductee (perhaps my favorite part) played by Paul Dooley. He had the misfortune to be probed by many aliens (though not all at once) which leads to his buttocks being numb on Sundays.

Cast regular Eugene Levy plays a Jewish dentist, and Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara are husband and wife travel agents who have never been outside Blaine. Bob Balaban plays the straight-laced local music teacher who is somewhat put upon trying to get Christopher Guest (Corky, the show's director) to hold proper rehearsals. Parker Posey is the local Dairy Queen employee with dreams of stardom and a father in prison.

The group goes through the audition process for their role in the musical, then rehearsals, and finally the performance, during which they anticipate the arrival of an influential NY drama critic, Mort Guffman - hence the title.

There are a lot of funny little moments, such as Corky wearing those big pants and doing his little dance, or Levy singing "I Dream of Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair", or rehearsing his "how high a ridge I could not tell" line, or Willard talking about his reduction surgery and trying to show it to Eugene Levy who retorts in a Johnny Carson voice..."Medicin man not go near...'Dances With Stumpy'.

Much of the show music was written by Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer from "Spinal Tap" fame.

The DVD had deleted scenes with optional commentary, a text-based behind the scenes, a commentary by Guest and Levy, subtitles and a trailer.

"I'll tell you why I can't put up with you people. Because you're (...) people. That's what you are. You're just (...) people, and I'm goin' home and I gonna - I'm gonna bite my pillow, is what I'm gonna do!"

What time is it?
Haven't you been paying attention? It's Midnight at the Oasis!
I originally wrote that this film is too deadpan and straight for my liking, especially coupled with a commentary that I still find rather boring. However, I think this is the best thing about these movies and Guest's personality in general. Most movies like this play down to their audience, continually winking at them and patting them on the back for getting all the jokes. Waiting for Guffman is so off the wall that it can play to any audience but a certain kind of people will get all the jokes and non-jokes (a term that I use for dialogue and scenes that don't have explicit jokes in them but have a humorous bent: take the scene with David Cross, for example).
Anything with Fred Willard is classic. Eugene Levy saying he was not the class clown, but sat near the class clown and studied him. And of course, "what do your keen and perceptive eyes see?"
Bestin Show is probably the funniest (not counting This is Spinal Tap), while A Mighty Wind is probably the most touching, feels the most complete and polished. Waiting for Guffman is so subdued though, which is why it's great. There's still a lot of laugh-out-loud (especially if you're a first time viewer, or the first time in a while) moments, and the ending is one of the best comedy endings of all time.
I love the little moments here, (Catherine O'Hara's little speech about "less is more" acting, Fred Willard telling Dr. Pearl "this is my wife Sheila, you may remember her from previous bills") there's just something so pure about these movies that makes them rewatchable. It's a pretty good movie, but keep in mind it's pretty rough and in my opinion the "worst" of the mockumentaries.
On the DVD side of things, I couldn't help but think the commentary was, well, boring. There was a lot of dead time. Guest seemed so bored during the recording, then again he could've just been kidding. We learn of the movie's incredibly small budget and cramped shooting schedule, however. And the deleted scenes are a treat, my favorite probably being the "Nothing Ever Happens in Blaine" song. Aside from that, there's little else, though. But the disc is pretty good (and cheap), so it's a no-brainer purchase. Get it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Meredith Willson's musical masterpiece is such an American classic, itdeserves to be known by each new generation--and this sprightly TV-movie versionspiffs it up nicely for the young folk. It's a testament to Willson'sachievement that this 2003 production can survive a casting flub: the usuallyengaging Matthew Broderick's low-key charm is an exact mismatch for the brassyenergy of traveling salesman Professor Harold Hill. When Broderick sings thewords "thundering, thundering!" from "Seventy-Six Trombones," he sounds asthough he's murmuring, murmuring. But he wears well (especially in a nifty"Marian the Librarian"), and he has lyrical support from Kristin Chenoweth'scrystal-clear singing. Director Jeff Bleckner has a maddening tendency to cutaway from the crucial moment of a scene, but the atmosphere of small-town Iowais ably created. Adding zip is Molly Shannon, hilarious as chief busybody Mrs.Shinn. In short, the "Think System" still works. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Broderick ruins great production
This is my second review of this movie, and I have found that I have a few more observations. Has anyone noticed how wooden and mechanical Broderick's performance is? At times he sounds like he's reading cue cards, and at others his movements resemble those of a puppet, marionette, or wind-up toy. I kept looking during "76 Trombones" to see if he had any visible strings attached. And that blank face of his shows almost no emotion. It's really a shame that casting Broderick ruined the whole movie, because the production has so many good points. The period small-town atmosphere is superb, Kristen Chenoweth is great, the staging in many of the musical numbers (eg. "Iowa Stubborn", "Marian the Librarian" "The Wells Fargo Wagon") is brilliant. The cast radiates YOUTH and vitality, unlike the original 1962 version, whose shopworn cast looks like its been hanging around on the set for too long. But believe me - as far as Harold Hill is concerned, Broderick isn't worthy to shine Robert Preston's marching boots. Whereas previously we had a MUSIC MAN with superlative Harold Hill and a weak production, now the situation is reversed. So again I say, what a shame.

One final point: "Trouble" looks and sounds all wrong. Hill is here assuming the mantle of an itinerant revivalist preacher; his mesmerizing patter is like a fiery sermon. He is cataloguing rather scandalous behavior for the time, and the townspeople should be reacting with shock. Here, instead of preaching Broderick dances around like an idiot, while the people just stand there. Tell you what, Disney, why not just get a new Harold Hill and run all the scenes with him in it all over again?

A pointless but nicely done film.
The age old question - why remake a classic?
The original The Music Man is, in my opinion, one of the greatest movie musicals ever made (as I outline in my review of it). When I saw that it had been remade I was, at once, horrified and fascinated. What will they have done to improve the original? Could they improve the original? Well, the short answer is they couldn't and they haven't.
My main concern was, and is, Matthew Broderick. Although undoubtably a talented musical theatre performer (I enjoyed his performance on the Producers and the How To Suceed ... soundtracks) he is no Robert Preston, which in my books means that he's no Harold Hill! He seems to suffer from a stiff neck for the duration of the film as he hardly moves his head (maybe it's those high collars!). In some of the numbers he looks positively uncomfortable! His voice is not suited to the role and in numbers like 76 Trombones, shows itself to be very weak. The rest of the cast is good, but not in comparison with their counterparts from the original film.
The saving grace to this production is the direction and choreography. The original film is slightly stagey with it's direction (something I actually find endearing), but this one really allows us to explore River City, Iowa and meet it's residents. The choreography dares to be different from the original and I especially love what has been done with 76 Trombones. The sets and costumes are equally impressive, especially when you consider that this was made for television.
On the whole, an entertaining couple of hours but I would recommend watching Mr Preston in action first. After that, this is at it's most entertaining when reminding you of the original. Which is no bad thing!

Wonderful production, but Broderick is miscast
On the whole, I prefer this 2003 Disney production of THE MUSIC MAN to the original 1962 movie version. The original was full of bright, garish colors that emphasized the cast members' age and made the supposedly turn-of-the-century high school gym look more like the one in WEST SIDE STORY. By contrast, the new version recreates the period beautifully, with muted colors that give the train, the town, the school, and the ice cream parlor the look of an old-fashioned picture postcard. The original version was also quite stagey, while the new one uses subtle camera angles to suggest the unwelcoming quality of the town in "Iowa Stubborn" and to create an almost menacing mood in the opening train number, "Rock Island." "Marian the Librarian," which looked silly in the original, here becomes a delightful "literary fantasy." And the new cast is youthful and fresh, with a Marian (Kristen Chenowith) both ravishing of voice and much more appealing of personality than the original's Shirley Jones. Chenowith's Marian is no uptight spinster but the town eccentric, an independent young woman of intelligence and humor. Disney regular Victor Garber also stands out as a pompous yet likeable Mayor Shinn.
Matthew Broderick, though, is all wrong as Harold Hill. In an interview, Broderick suggested that he wanted to create a more understated salesman than Robert Preston's famous "bass drum." But in fact Broderick's performance is simply boring. I couldn't imagine duller renditions of "Ya Got Trouble" and "Seventy-Six Trombones," for example - and if Harold Hill doesn't "sell" those two big numbers, then he is not Harold Hill. In short, though Broderick has been fine in other, less dominating musical roles, he is miscast as a fast-talking, charismatic "spell-binder."

No match for the 1962 version.
Okay, okay, the 1962 version of the Broadway musical turned film, starring Robert Preston (in the part of his life) and Shirley Jones, super sweet and sexy at the same time and with the voice of an angel, happens to be one of my favorite films of all time. But this version? Forgettabout it.

When I first checked out reviews for this after seeing it in its first TV showing (or seeing MOST of it since, I think I started switching channels halfway through), and checking out if it was available on DVD, I was not only a bit shocked they'd even waste a good blank DVD on it but then have the nerve to charge people to buy/rent it, but by some of the POSITIVE reviews. What movie were these folks watching, I wonder, or is it just self-denial, or perhaps they've never seen the 1962 version, or perhaps they just don't know what "The Music Man" is and should be all about?

Still, I gave it a chance. The opening sequence looks and sounds good, the production values good, but my first clue something was "wrong" here was the presence of an Afro-American traveling salesman. This was just not realistic for the time period or places involved. And when Matthew Broderick (playing Harold Hill) takes his first stroll through River City, Iowa, circa early 20th century, more blacks. Fancily dressed ladies and little kids, all living in racial harmony in 1912 Iowa? Just not realistic. I think I even spotted an oriental or two, and these are not "racist" remarks at all. It's just that this just wasn't the way it was back then. Nowhere in the country back then actually, but especially the time period this takes place in. Egads, give me a break Disney on the over-the-top and totally inappropriate political correctness.

It was only when Matthew Broderick, already early on in the movie exhibiting none of the personality characteristics or mannerisms Preston made famous, started "acting" however, saying words and speaking lines like he were tied to a morphine drip, did I start to wonder, what the heck are they butchering a classic for? I kept watching though and when Ferris started to dance around like an 80 year old and sing lines with almost no real emotion or energy or spirit, that I knew this was going to be bad. Matthews' energy level compared to Preston is like a 40 watt light bulb compared to the spotlight on top of the Luxor in Vegas. He butchers EVERY song. His "Trouble in River City" is without a doubt the worst though I think.

The woman who plays Marion the Librarian, while she can sing well enough, is also a horrible miscast. While she sings like a bird (though not nearly as good as Shirley Jones in the original), her acting is generally poor, forced, and her voice is squeaky and her whole "look" nowhere near what it should be. As others have mentioned, the barbershop quartet guys seem much too young, the mayor of the town is played all wrong, although the stuttering kid (played originally by Ron Howard) is okay.

The production values are really about the only good thing about this movie, but almost everything else is wrong. It's hard for me to remember such a blatant bad job of casting here mainly. Matthew Broderick can act, for all we know, he can sing or dance. But he "acts" and sings and dances throughout without any magic or enthusiasm at all. Change the two leads here at least, and ditch the unrealistic and almost insulting political correctness here, and this might've been something good. Though still nowhere near the 1962 version.

Save your money and buy the REAL version, and make a VHS copy or DVD recording of this next time it's shown on the tube. Imho, there really are no legitimate excuses for trying to remake virtually perfectly done originals. Witness the color remake of "Psycho." This whole project should've sat in the can. And don't they do screentests and tryouts for parts anymore? If Matthew Broderick performed in those as he does here, he would've been nixed by any decent casting director, so whaa happened?

Buy the original or so see a live performance. This mostly does unjustice to Wilson's classic.

The Music Man is a True American Classic - Despite This!
I will admit that I'm prejudice when it comes to Robert Preston. Preston had a limited range as a singer, but more than made up for it with stage presence, knowledge of the character of Harold Hill, and great moves that dominated every scene (and he was in nearly every scene). I would be hard-pressed to find someone who would fill the man's shoes. Still, Matthew Broderick seems uncomfortable in his OWN shoes. His awkwardness and gangly movement is disconcerting for me, the viewer. I kept waiting for him to fall down! I know they cast Broderick to attract viewers with his familiar name and his reputation as a musical performer in The Producers, but it's like casting Ray Romano to play Don Corleone in The Godfather because he's Italian. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Cadet Kelly
Kelly is a prissy, artistic teen who can also be a little bit of a smart aleck.When her mother re-marries and breaks the news to Kelly - they're moving and she's going to be attending military school at their new location - she is miserble.But could she be the one to turn military school into a place of fun, fashion, and friends?Most likely not.Will she be able to handle the fact that her stepdad is the HEAD of the school?She's not sure.And finally, will she be able to turn her stepdad into a "father" before the new baby arrives?As Kelly often says, she has "to do everything".

This is an entertaining, feel-good sort of movie.It's definately not worthy of an Academy Award or anything like that, but I like to watch it sometimes whenever it's on the Disney Channel.Christy Carlson Romano does a great job as the mean "Captain Stone", as does Hilary as the funky, fun "Kelly".Overall, this movie is simple, but it's still good.I recommend it to Hilary Duff and Christy Carlson Romano fans, as well as to girls who love a good tween movie.But, I ALSO recommend that (unless you don't have cable) you watch it on the Disney Channel, because then you can view it for free!

Excellent
Great family movie-- have seen it on the Disney channel and extremely glad it is coming out on DVD.Must see!Hilary Duff does a great job.

excellent
I am 22 years old and my boyfriend is a-not-so sensitive 26 year old, and we watch this movie every single time it's on television (He discovered it first).I cannot wait for the DVD to come out because it is SOOOO long overdue.Cadet Kelly is, by far, one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen because Hilary Duff is just plain awesome and she cracks me up in this movie.. Good for ALL ages!

Charming , Disney magic!!!
I LOVE THIS MOVIE! SO A GOOD MOVIE.IF PEOPLE THINK IT'S BAD , THEN THEY ARE STUPID. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS FOR EVERYBODY!

Finally
At last disney movies getting released on DVD I Love Hilary Duff so I'm glad to own another one of her movies i'll be the first in line for it at Target!!! I cant wait! ... Read more