Meryl Streep names her favourite comedy movie
Flicking the Rolodex of genres that cinema has within its confines, it is hard to find a single movie type of which Meryl Streep hasn’t been a part. The iconic actor is such a behemoth in the industry that she has routinely tried her hand at a variety of different subjects, including drama, noir, musicals and everything in between. However, one area that is so often brought into the conversation when discussing Streep is comedy.
While that may, in some part, be down to Streep’s more prescient roles in movies like Kramer vs Kramer, Iron Lady, and The Deer Hunter being considered more vital to the cinematic world, there could be another reason Streep’s comedic turns are somewhat overlooked. As one of the most accomplished actors in the business, she brings humanity to all of her roles that sometimes make their funny moments feel so well-rounded that they’re forgotten as part of the complex character.
There is no doubt that in The Devil Wears Prada or Death Becomes Her, Streep is funny. In fact, the latter is one of the finest cult comedies of the decade. But there’s something so emotionally charged about all of Streep’s performances that she never reads simply as “funny”.
Streep, though, certainly enjoys a laugh. During a conversation with the Academy of Motion Pictures, the actor picked out a series of her favourite directors and labelled Christopher Guest as a vital component of her love of cinema. The mockumentary maker is routinely cited as a true great of movies thanks to his groundbreaking film, This Is Spinal Tap, arguably the first movie to truly put the mockumentary into the frame of great cinema.
However, that isn’t Streep’s favourite. She tells the Academy of some of her favourite flicks: “Film fans have probably seen it, but, to regular audiences, anything by Chris Guest. So my favourite movie is Waiting for Guffman. Or Best in Show. Or A Mighty Wind. Or Spinal Tap.” Taking the acclaimed actor at her first word, it’s easy to see why Waiting for Guffman might be her favourite.
Apart from being slightly more off the beaten track and, therefore, always more appealing to a cinephile, the movie is a genuinely hilarious look at a local theatre, a world Streep would certainly know about. In this charming tale, an enthusiastic amateur theatre director from a small town in Missouri rallies his barely passable cast of locals to elevate their performance for their latest show upon learning that a Broadway producer will be in attendance.
It’s a self-referential piece, delivered with deadpan brilliance and a pointed potency, on the world of theatre. It has all the brilliance of Christopher Guest wrapped up into one delectable moment of comedic revelry, aided by stars Fred Willard and Eugene Levy, among many others.
