An aspiring director (Christopher Guest) and the marginally talented amateur cast of a hokey small-town Missouri musical production go overboard when they learn that someone from Broadway will be in attendance.Despite the incredibly cast (especially Parker Posey), this is not a film people usually talk about. In the same vein and from some of the same people, you hear a lot about "Spinal tap" and to a lesser extent "Best in Show". How did this one quietly fade away? I guess Meryl Streep loves it, so that's good.This film seems like the precursor to "Parks and Rec". Not the first fake documentary, but the focus on a small town and its inhabitants seems familiar. Even more than "The Office", this seems to have the elements that made "Parks and Rec" great.

I was shocked there were 18 pages of good reviews. This has to be one of the worst movies especially considering it was recommended. Must admit that comedies are not my favorite genre, but this movie made it worst in that it tried so hard to be clever that it made me squirm to watch it.The concept of the movie is comparable to audition week on American Idol. You watch because people are so blind to their shortcomings. But we knew this movie didn't have bad actors. So how funny would it be to have good singers try to convince they shouldn't get anywhere near an American Idol tryout? It would be pointless as this movie was.The use of improv is over-rated. We've all been in that setting where a group of friends get on a roll and everyone is cracking up with tears in the their eyes. I feel that is improv. Improv can't be turned on just because the camera is rolling as this film proves. If you like that Drew Carey hosted show of improv, you'll probably like this film.Overall the jokes were poor, the improv was sophomoric, and the over-acting by Guest and company was campy...and those are my compliments of this drivel. If a guy playing a trumpet AND the kettle drum at the same time is funny to you, fine. For me, I prefer more heady stuff like "I Love Lucy" or "Hee-Haw".But remember, I think SNL lost its humor in the 1980's, so maybe you'll like this G-rated humor. I kept waiting for a person to identify himself as the zoo keeper and then tell us there was no zoo in town. That's the humor you can expect.My only wish was that I could give this a minus rating.

This is a fairly enjoyable film, but honestly I don't think it's deserving of all the praise it gets. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be 'mild.' The story is mildly interesting, and it follows a group of small-town folks who are mildly quirky, putting on a play that is pretty bad, but only mildly funny.Part of the problem, I think, is that it's somewhat one-joke-- the characters are stupid, and they're putting on a bad play. Beyond that, there's not much to laugh at. There are a few moments of comedy, but most of it is just repeating the same ideas which aren't original or funny in the first place-- Fred Willard's character is self-obsessed and obnoxious, Catherine O'Hara is blindly supportive of him, Corky St. Clair is flamboyantly gay, etc. It seems cliché'd to compare this (or any improvisational comedy) to Spinal Tap, but the key difference between them is that in Spinal Tap, the characters say funny things. In this, the fact that the characters are stupid/vain/whatever is supposed to be the joke. And it gets old very quickly.Watching the film, it seems like the play is going to be a hilarious climax, but it's not nearly as bad as it could be. The songs themselves are pretty funny, because they're so cheesy and typical of amateur musical theater, but being subjected to 15+ minutes of the same joke -- these characters are bad actors and the lyrics are cheesy -- is tiresome.Also, I'm guessing the ending is supposed to be surprising, but it's telegraphed pretty clearly, and you can see it coming a mile away.

I love these Guest/Levy put-ons, and Willard is always great. So is O'hara in this. But come on, this is not in the same league as their others. It isn't even nearly as good as Drop Dead Gorgeous. I know that is by a different troupe, but it is a great comparable. The part leading up to the show is good. The show is interminable. It kills the movie. After the show ends, things get better again, but that huge dead-spot in the middle makes it impossible to give this more than a five. Once again, the people who give these mediocre movies a "10" seem to be missing an oar. Take this comment: "the character of Corky ... at first glance he can seem like an annoying gay stereotype. But good ol' Christopher Guest has a trick up his sleeve...listen VERY carefully and you'll hear him mention his wife (just once in the whole movie). I don't actually think for a minute Corky is homosexual, he just acts exceedingly camp. ... We should realise that Christopher Guest is one step ahead of us!" Hello!?!? Guest is two steps ahead of this guy I'd say. Corky CLAIMS to have a wife. Somebody else in the flick, maybe it is Mrs. Pearl, says nobody has ever seen her. Hello!? That is the joke. Get it now?