For Your Consideration
For Your Consideration is a 2006 comedy film directed by Christopher Guest. It was co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, both also starring in the film.
The plot follows Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), a 30-year-veteran of Hollywood who has yet to catch a break. She is able to land the lead role in Home For Purim, playing the dying matriarch of a Southern Jewish family in the 1940s. Also joining her are Victor Allen Miller (Harry Shearer), a former stage actor who has been reduced to doing commercial voice-overs, playing her husband; Callie Webb (Parker Posey) an off-Broadway comedienne, playing her recently out daughter; and newcomer Brian Chubb (Christopher Moynihan) as her son, home from the Navy.
Despite a highly eccentric and demanding director (Guest) and a producer (Jennifer Coolidge) whose only contribution is that she can write checks, awards buzz begins to surround the movie, with Marilyn and Callie's names being considered for Best Actress, while Victor is supposedly being considered for Best Actor. All three soon begin to develop egos, and take great pride in knowing that they will soon be Academy Award nominees. When the nominations are formally announced, however, only Brian, who has received next to no attention, has been nominated for an award, for Best Supporting Actor. The other three quitely return to their mundane careers.
- Ambiguously Brown: Parodied. Even though he looks completely white, Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins) insists that he is in-fact 1/8th Native American ("mighty Choctaw!")
- Everybody Remembers the Stripper: In-universe. In her entire career, Marilyn's most memorable was playing a blind prostitute decades ago.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Marilyn and Victor are this in-universe.
- For the rest of the film, you have Eugene Levy and John Michael Higgins playing Lickspittle agents; Ed Begley, Jr., playing the film's head make-up artist; Ricky Gervais and Larry Miller playing executive producers; Richard Kind and Sandra Oh as market representatives; and Fred Willard and Jane Lynch as the obnoxious hosts of a TMZ Extra style show.
- Going Meta, clips from the dailies feature Paul Dooley and John Krasinski in a cop drama, with Mary McCormack and Shawn Christian in a period piece.
- For the rest of the film, you have Eugene Levy and John Michael Higgins playing Lickspittle agents; Ed Begley, Jr., playing the film's head make-up artist; Ricky Gervais and Larry Miller playing executive producers; Richard Kind and Sandra Oh as market representatives; and Fred Willard and Jane Lynch as the obnoxious hosts of a TMZ Extra style show.
- Kick the Dog: After Marilyn, Victor, and Callie learn that they weren't nominated after all the hype, Fred Willard's character interviews them live to get their reactions.
- Misaimed Marketing: In-universe (parodied). Not wanting to deter Gentile audiences from seeing a "Jewish" movie, halfway through production, the film is retitled Home for Thanksgiving, despite the plot remaining the same.
- Never Live It Down: In-universe. Despite being a respected stage veteran for 40 years, all that most people remember of Victor was playing a tv-pitchman for kosher hotdogs early in his career.
- Oscar Bait: Home for
PurimThanksgiving, as well as the period piece Pride of Plymouth Rock. - Posters Always Lie: A working poster for the film is a Norman Rockwell-esque painting featuring an obviously Jewish family dinner. Executive Meddling changes it to something more ambiguous.
- Spiritual Successor: To Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind.
- You Fail Religious Studies Forever: Parodied: The in-universe writers are admittedly unfamiliar with Jewish tradition. It shows