A Highlight of Films Picked up From This Year's Toronto FIlm Festival

By A.J. Bond

For Your Consideration - Christopher Guest eschews the mockumentary form for this, his first "real movie", satirizing the Hollywood Oscar race. When spurious Oscar buzz strikes the set of the ludicrous lesbian period-piece, Home For Purim, the washed up stars of the film, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey and Harry Shearer, suddenly turn into self-promoting, self-important megalomaniacs. Guest actually manages to eek out some pity for these deluded Oscar hopefuls without compromising the non-stop Hollywood-bashing. Ultimately the film is dependent on the mixed performances of the ensemble cast which range from pitch-perfect deadpan humour (Fred Willard's obnoxious Pat O'Brien-esque Entertainment News anchor) to over-the-top caricatures (Eugene Levy's cliched Hollywood every-agent). A ridiculous farce that falls well short of Guest's opus, Waiting for Guffman, but with more than enough laughs to keep one entertained.