Twofer
For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest, 2006): I liked this one more than a lot of recent Guest films. This one had a much better sense of comic timing. A few of the more recent Guest films (such as Best in SHhw and A Mighty Wind) let some of the scenes drag on a bit too much, which I guess can be problematic when you're dealing with an ensemble cast and a lot of improvisation. But For Your Consideration seemed to be perfectly timed. Nothing dragged on too long, and scenes often ended just as they were getting funnier, leaving us with a George Costanza-esque sense of exiting on top.
Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005): Ok, I suppose. Although one of my pet peeves is when movies use a lot of visual gimmicks and quirky little tidits, and then drop them like a bad habit once the plot really picks up, which this film definitely does. It's like the director does just enough to make the film slightly more original than others, then decides it's too much work to keep it up.
I also think the film sent a lot of mixed signals, like how the audience is aligned so that we relish the comeuppance that the Katie Holmes character receives for doing essentially what the male protagonist does so well. Maybe that's the point, but the form of it matched so many other comeuppance moments in other films, so I felt it was a little murky in this film. Whatever.
Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005): Ok, I suppose. Although one of my pet peeves is when movies use a lot of visual gimmicks and quirky little tidits, and then drop them like a bad habit once the plot really picks up, which this film definitely does. It's like the director does just enough to make the film slightly more original than others, then decides it's too much work to keep it up.
I also think the film sent a lot of mixed signals, like how the audience is aligned so that we relish the comeuppance that the Katie Holmes character receives for doing essentially what the male protagonist does so well. Maybe that's the point, but the form of it matched so many other comeuppance moments in other films, so I felt it was a little murky in this film. Whatever.