Willard's pals, writer/director Christopher Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy, have perhaps tried to avenge him with their new spoof, For Your Consideration. (The title refers to the promotional materials Oscar voters receive every winter.) But though their efforts are admirable, the final product is an almost complete misfire. Rather than taking on the movie industry's Oscar machinations, For Your Consideration makes fun of its hapless subjects. Small-time actress Marilyn Hack (O'Hara) is going through the motions, playing a dying matriarch in a dreadful-looking drama called Home for Purim. Unexpectedly, an Internet rumor kicks off Oscar buzz, not only for Marilyn, but also for co-stars Victor Allan Miller (Shearer) and Callie Webb (Parker Posey).
The only big laughs in For Your Consideration come, once again, from Willard, playing the insufferable, stupid host of an Entertainment Tonight-like TV show. Otherwise, the movie includes musty old items like the ineffectual Hollywood agent (Levy), a clueless director (Guest) and playwrights-turned-screenwriters (Bob Balaban and Michael McKean) with too much integrity. Guest actually expects to get laughs from a publicist (John Michael Higgins) who has never heard of the Internet, and from the timid producers who change the film's title to the "less ethnic" Home for Thanksgiving. O'Hara is so touching in her portrayal of Marilyn that For Your Consideration backfires by ridiculing her. She truly loves this craft, and her love bites her in the hand. She shouldn't be the target here; the target should be fear. Everyone in Hollywood fears that someone will find out they're frauds. The Oscars are a gold-plated hedge against this fear; that's a worthy target of satire.