Somehow, For Your Consideration (2006) has escaped my notice until this point.  It is one of the many mockumentaries that were the brainchild of Christopher Guest, who plays director Jay Berman in this one.  They are usually hilarious, although this ones’ relative obscurity speaks to its quality compared to the others.  It is not my wish to impugn the film, particularly given that it is part of the Guest pantheon of movies.  It is also a tricky one to introduce, much less describe in a synopsis, so wish me luck.

Speaking of luck, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O’Hara) is a struggling actress with little luck at the beginning of For Your Consideration.  She is watching a classic film for inspiration before she heads to the studio for her day’s work on the low budget, hilariously titled movie Home for Purim.  She is playing Esther, the matriarch of a Jewish family living in the American South.  There is no way I could adequately describe this situation.  Evidence of not only the B-level of this production, but her own lowly status, are evident right away when she gets to the studio and is mistaken for another performer.  As she begins her day, we begin to meet the rest of the cast.  Because this is a Guest production, know that this is an ensemble group, and the others will be introduced as needed.  With the shooting taking place, we see what is going on with some of these others.  While Marilyn is taking a break, one of the crew tells her that he had seen on the internet that her performance is garnering attention for a possible Oscar nomination.  Just this mention gets some talking about the film beyond the silly people behind the camera, like Jay.  As more visit the set, other actors in the film like the even lower-level actor Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer) and the un-funny comedienne Callie Webb (Parker Posey), begin to receive the same kind of attention.  There then comes a concomitant media blitz, although the local news program that they go on is not the biggest platform.  They also treat it like any other gig, wanting to know where to position themselves and how to stay in character as they are interviewed.  Indeed, the experience of possibly being awarded for their work changes the way they approach their careers.  Prior to these rumors, they had simply been happy to have booked a film.  With Callie, she becomes a little harder on her boyfriend and co-star, Brian Chubb (Christopher Moynihan).  When she is told that some are talking about her for an Oscar, she thinks he is not being as supportive as he could be.  Neither is the studio making the film.  When the executives come to the set, led by Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais), they suggest to the producer, Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge), that they tone down the “Jewishness” of the production.  Hence, when it premiers, the name is changed to Home for Thanksgiving.  This leads into the transformation we see from Marilyn and Victor.  Victor appears on a Music Television (MTv) like show targeting an audience far more youthful than him.  It is Marilyn who has the more complete alteration.  She goes on a late-night talk show in a skimpy dress and with obvious plastic surgery, talking in a vacuous way about the movie.  The night before the nominations are announced, Martin hosts a party for what he believes will be his new stars.  Callie and Marilyn talk about their potential nods, with Marilyn absentmindedly stating that they will probably never talk to one another after the following morning.  Unsurprisingly, when the fateful announcement comes, none of the actors from the film hear their name called, at least not the ones expecting it.  The person who is tapped is Brian, further humiliating Callie.  A celebrity gossip program, hosted by Chuck (Fred Willard) and Cindy (Jane Lynch), decides it will be humorous to find those who did not get nominated.  Thus, Chuck goes out with a camera and surprises a depressed Callie at a diner, a clearly drunk Marilyn at her home, and Victor as he is shooting yet another commercial.  Three months later, Callie is back to her one woman comedy act whose name I will not repeat; Victor has “moved up” to infomercials that mention that he almost won an Academy Award; and Marilyn is teaching, poorly, an acting class.

Though we close For Your Consideration with these three, many of the others we have seen along the way make an appearance.  Because there are so many characters, and it is not intended as a traditional movie, it is difficult to describe it in my usual manner.  Please accept this as my excuse for the brevity of the synopsis, and the review overall.  Indeed, I am not sure there is a specific Catholic point to make about the entire film.  The only moment to discuss on this score is Marilyn’s character, Esther, in Home for Purim.  From an extremely general point of view, it is not completely out of left field to rename it Home for Thanksgiving.  The feast of Purim is a Jewish holiday of thanksgiving.  In this case, the joke is that the rebranding is meant to sound more American and less foreign, which is something with which people can identify right now, sadly.  It is also not unfamiliar territory, historically speaking, for Catholics in this country.  For many years, they had to try to make their religion seem more palatable to American culture (whatever that means) in order to gain some kind of acceptance in the United States.  In a sense, one can say this is what this fictitious movie and the people in it are trying to do.  They are so desperate for approval that they would change the name and behave in ways contrary to who they are.  Interestingly, this is not what Queen Esther did in order to save the Jewish people in Persia.  You can read about her exploits in the Bible in the book of Esther, though some of it is actually discussed in the movie.  A Persian official wanted to murder all Jews because they would not submit to Persian authority.  This was about to happen until Esther, who was married to the Persian emperor, successfully intervened on behalf of her people.  If only somebody could have done the same for our characters.

Speaking of characters, the people you see in For Your Consideration and their mannerisms are all familiar if you have seen others like this one.  It is not a bad example of Guest’s work, but not the greatest.  As such, this one is a meh.