For Your Consideration

Having mock-docked his way through rock music, folk music, am-dram, and dog shows, writer/director/comedy mastermind Christopher Guest's latest offering is a characteristically cheeky dig in the ribs of the Hollywood awards system, just in time for red carpet season. While nowhere near as funny or cohesive as A Mighty Wind or Best in Show, For Your Consideration is a well-observed crack at the inherent absurdity of the Oscar "buzz-ometer", skillfully cast with the usual suspects from previous films, plus Guest groupie Ricky Gervais as, well, Ricky Gervais. Strong comic performances come courtesy of the magnificent Fred Willard, John Michael Higgins, and Catherine O'Hara, whose particular brand of quiet desperation is only perhaps upstaged by the sublime ridiculousness of Jennifer Coolidge, the producer whose job amounts to "making a lot of phone calls." Not the best of the Guest list, but the satire is sharp, the laughs regular and, at less than 90 minutes long, it's a low risk choice, even for those with the shortest of attention spans. [Lindsay West]