Release Date:
11/17/2006
A disappointing take-off from the same comic geniuses behind This Is Spinal Tap, Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman, this lame attempt to spoof Hollywood awards certainly won't be winning any itself. Sure, there are a lot of laughs to be mined from the spectacle of ego-inflated superstars tripping over each other trying to grab a $65 gold statue, but you won't find them here. The basic plot revolves around a dreadful independent movie called Home for Purim, which starts to generate awards buzz when a backwater Internet site predicts its star (Catherine O'Hara) could be in line for an Oscar nomination. None of this makes any sense since the film-within-a-film is so bad you can't imagine it even being released, much less generating any kind of award talk. Still, the story is picked up by all the usual entertainment sources, including the vapid hosts of a show that is obviously supposed to be like Access Hollywood. Unlike previous films from this crowd (director Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard etc), this flat-footed satirical send-up just doesn't remotely connect with reality, killing any chance for an audience to get with the humor attempt here. We predict it's in theatres one week and then straight to DVD where you would be better off renting Spinal Tap for the 12th time than giving this misfire any consideration.