Fred Willard is SUPPOSED to be inappropriate and annoying: a character that thinks he’s witty and a genius who’s really just totally incompetant. He was one of the best parts of this movie, especially his bit at the public event where he was trying to make fun of the deputy mayor.
“The judge asked me if I could meet my wife, and I said, 'Your on 'er!”
I had to explain that one to my wife. Also why I snickered at “There’s a Mighty Wind Blowing – it’s blowing you and me!”
Of course, if you have the Tap DVD, there’s a whole 60 minutes or so of extra footage, which almost watches like it’s own movie paralleling the scenes that did make the cut.
So you can always hope they’ll have some extra stuff for this one.
I do have the Tap DVD and enjoyed all those outtakes. The sheer length of those blew me away. Heck it’s one of the best DVDs out there. I’d love an extra hour of this movie but this one seems much more scripted so it will probably be a lot less. I’d guess there’ll be maybe 10 or 15 minutes at most. How much were there on “Best in Show”?
I nearly fell out of my seat laughing at Harry Shearer’s final gag.
“When you put it like that it’s almost poetry.”
( Silence )
“Almost.”
Perfect.
I was pissed when if first came out, but only in a handful of cities. I stewed for 3 or 4 weeks until it finally showed up, but the wait was worth it. Personally, I though Best In Show was entertaining, but disappointing. I think the only thing I audibly laughed at was the Starbucks joke, and while I liked the two-left-feet joke I thought it ultimately was too goofy. Guffman, however, is sheer genius.
That said, Mighty Wind is easily up to Guffman’s standard, but might falter a little due to there being too many characters and the plot being a little thin. Levy was excellent, doing a very good job of playing an innately funny, pathetic character, while maintaining a straight-man sensibility throughout (the “I’d like to see this town in the Autumn” line was funny, yet he gave it in such an earnest way that you know to Mitch, that wasn’t a joke, he actually meant it - in fact, the joke comes not from the line, but from Micky’s husband’s reaction). I’m a big Harry Shearer fan, and I wish I could have seen more of him - but not his teeth - in the film, buy hey, the cuts have to come somewhere. Guest was good, but he seemed to be channelling a little bit of Corky Sinclair at times. I also wish the Folksmen had assaulted the Bohners after their concert transgression. That would have been great.
I actually thought the drag gag at the end was a little forced. I guess when you’re friends with some real life transexuals, men in drag or men who want to change their stops being inherently funny. Guest’s reaction to it was sort of funny… but still it left a bad taste in my mouth, the same way the leg-humping dog did at the end of BiS. I just wish they wouldn’t end on lame cliches like that, after whole movies’ worth of comedy innovation.
That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a movie in a long, long time. It was so unexpected! My GF and I missed the next few minutes of dialouge because we were in stitches!
I will think of that scene every time I’m in a conversation with my idiot boss.
The Guffman DVD has quite a few cut scenes, too, including a whole musical number that was completely cut (Bulging River). I’m looking forward to seeing what was trimmed from Mighty Wind.
The Best in Show DVD has a lot of hysterical deleted scenes - close to an hour’s worth, IIRC. Christopher Guest had a couple of entire scenes that were cut that had me rolling on the floor.
Anyway, I just got back from finally seeing A Mighty Wind. I will never be able to listen to “Ave Maria” with a straight face again.