# For Your Consideration (film)
**For Your Consideration** is a 2006 American satirical comedy film directed by [Christopher Guest](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-guest), written by Guest and [Eugene Levy](https://www.edgepedia.org/eugene-levy), and produced by Karen Murphy, in which the cast and crew of a low-budget independent film are swept up by internet rumors that their performances may earn Academy Award nominations.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63824-FOR-YOUR-CONSIDERATION) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration) It was released by Warner Independent Pictures, runs 86 minutes, and carries a PG-13 rating for sexual references and brief language.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63824-FOR-YOUR-CONSIDERATION) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | November 17, 2006 (limited, 23 theaters); expanded wide November 22, 2006; video release February 20, 2007[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration) |
| Format | A straightforward narrative rather than the mockumentary style of Guest's earlier films, with dialogue largely improvised from a detailed outline[4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/) |
| Film within a film | *Home for Purim*, a period drama about a Jewish family's reunion in the mid-1940s American South, the only scripted portion of the movie[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/) • [4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/) |
| Lead cast | Catherine O'Hara (Marilyn Hack), Harry Shearer (Victor Allan Miller), Parker Posey (Callie Webb), with Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, and Ricky Gervais[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/) |
| Box office | $5,549,923 domestic and $5,925,637 worldwide against a $12,000,000 production budget[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration) |
| Critical scores | 53% on Rotten Tomatoes (164 reviews); 68/100 on Metacritic (33 critics, "generally favorable"); 6.3/10 on IMDb[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/for-your-consideration/) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/ratings/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Debut feature director Jay Berman, played by Guest himself, shepherds the production of *Home for Purim*, an intimate period drama about a Jewish family's turbulent reunion as the dying matriarch's favorite holiday approaches.[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/) Internet-generated rumors begin circulating that three of the film's stars may have delivered award-worthy performances: the faded luminary Marilyn Hack ([Catherine O'Hara](https://www.edgepedia.org/catherine-ohara)), the journeyman actor and former hot dog pitchman Victor Allan Miller ([Harry Shearer](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-shearer)), and the ingenue Callie Webb ([Parker Posey](https://www.edgepedia.org/parker-posey)).[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/)
Once the entertainment-news program "Hollywood Now," anchored by Chuck Porter ([Fred Willard](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-willard)) and Cindy Martin ([Jane Lynch](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-lynch)), picks up the buzz, award fever infects the entire production.[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/) Award fever spreads through the production: publicity staff member Corey Taft ([John Michael Higgins](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-michael-higgins)), the agent Morley Orfkin (Eugene Levy), and Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge), one of the film's producers, all detect its sudden chance of becoming a sleeper hit. The same feeling strikes Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais), head of Sunfish Classics, who proposes some eleventh-hour revisions he believes will widen the movie's appeal.[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/) Meanwhile the screenwriters, Lane Iverson (Michael McKean) and Philip Koontz (Bob Balaban), watch in horror as the first film adaptation of their work diverges from their original story.[5](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/)
The satire reaches beyond the set. Guest described the film as capturing what he saw as an essential absurdity of modern filmmaking: marketing begins before a film is made, and a picture's fate is often determined by rumors and perceptions that take shape before the movie has even wrapped.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/for-your-consideration-2006)
## Production and improvisation method
**A departure in form.** Guest's previous ensemble comedies, *Waiting for Guffman* (1996), *Best in Show* (2000), and *A Mighty Wind* (2003), were shot as fake documentaries. For this film he dispensed with that framing: "this one is a departure because it's a narrative and it's not done as documentary," though he kept the improvisation that sparks his regular cast.[4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/) • [9](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/for-your-consideration-christopher-guest-and-eugene-levy-probably-wont-read-this/)
The method depends on heavy preparation. Guest and Levy spent about four months building an outline of roughly 25 pages covering character backgrounds and scene-by-scene breakdowns; the only fully scripted material was the *Home for Purim* footage itself.[10](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/11/16/for-guest-structure-key-to-improvisation/) • [4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/) On set the economics differ from conventional filmmaking: Guest reported shooting at most three takes per scene, with scenes running eight or nine minutes instead of the usual minute and a half or two.[4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/) The shooting schedule was 27 days, far shorter than a typical film, while Guest edited for almost a year.[9](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/for-your-consideration-christopher-guest-and-eugene-levy-probably-wont-read-this/)
Actor [Michael Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-hitchcock), a Guest regular, confirmed the balance: the cast receives an outline and discusses characters in advance, but dialogue is improvised and not rehearsed until the cameras roll.[11](https://willharris.substack.com/p/interview-michael-hitchcock) Guest also let actors choose their own costumes and props from their character backstories; the hair stylist faced so many requests that, by his account, "everyone wants a wig," yielding three fat suits and nine wigs among the cast.[4](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/)
The idea for *Home for Purim* came from Guest's visit to Georgia, where he encountered Southern Jews speaking Yiddish, an image he found striking enough to build the film-within-a-film around.[12](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/your-consideration-parker-posey)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed to favorable. Rotten Tomatoes recorded 53% positive reviews from 164 critics, with the critics consensus reading: "As the object of satire gets bigger the jokes become thinner, and Christopher Guest isn't as droll or insightful here than when he was lampooning smaller subjects."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration) Metacritic assigned a weighted score of 68 out of 100 from 33 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/for-your-consideration/)
Reviewers singled out Catherine O'Hara. Peter Travers of *Rolling Stone* called her "comic perfection as Marilyn Hack,"[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/criticreviews/) and a later retrospective described her as delivering a tour de force that channels "all the hopefulness, rage, and despair" of aging, frequently unemployed actors.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration) The *Christian Science Monitor*'s Peter Rainer ranked it, except for *Borat*, the funniest film of 2006.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/for-your-consideration/) At the other end, [Amy Nicholson](https://www.edgepedia.org/amy-nicholson) of *I.E. Weekly* gave it a D, judging the target of shallow Hollywood types an easy one.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration) French critics were cooler still: AlloCiné's press survey averaged 2.9 out of 5 across 14 reviews, with *Le Monde* finding the staging conventional and *Première* calling the satire uninspired.[14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-110280/critiques/presse/)
## Box office
The film opened in 23 theaters on November 17, 2006, grossing $372,012, then expanded to a widest release of 625 theaters the following week.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration) It finished with $5,549,923 domestically and $375,714 internationally, a worldwide total of $5,925,637 against a production budget of $12,000,000.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration) • [15](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3058861569/) Among 2006's domestic releases it ranked 196th for the year.[16](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2006/)
## Place in Guest's career
For Your Consideration was the fourth of the Guest-Levy ensemble comedies and, per one retrospective, Guest's penultimate directing effort as of the mid-2020s.[17](https://petersonreviews.com/2026/03/20/for-your-consideration-2006-movie-review/) It is frequently grouped with his mockumentaries even though it is not one; the title itself borrows the awards-season phrase studios use in their campaign advertising to Academy voters.[18](https://www.chevalierfamilylaity.org/movie-reviews/415-signis-reviews-2007) The film's subject, awards buzz generated and amplified by rumor, has remained a live theme in Hollywood; in 2026 the distributor Neon ran a billboard for the snubbed film *No Other Choice* reading "F Your Consideration," a direct play on the same slogan.[19](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/snubbed-movie-no-other-choice-fires-shot-at-oscars-with-brazen-billboard-message/)
## References
1. [For Your Consideration (2006), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63824-FOR-YOUR-CONSIDERATION)
2. [For Your Consideration, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159169-for_your_consideration)
3. [For Your Consideration (2006), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/For-Your-Consideration)
4. [Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, For Your Consideration, The Comic's Comic (2006)](https://thecomicscomic.com/2006/11/17/christopher-gue/)
5. [Film card, Torino Film Festival](https://www.torinofilmfest.org/en/24-torino-film-festival/film/for-your-consideration/8042/)
6. [For Your Consideration Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/for-your-consideration/)
7. [For Your Consideration (2006), IMDb Ratings](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/ratings/)
8. [Oscar-bait movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/for-your-consideration-2006)
9. ["For Your Consideration": Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy Probably Won't Read This, Rotten Tomatoes editorial (2006)](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/for-your-consideration-christopher-guest-and-eugene-levy-probably-wont-read-this/)
10. [For Guest, Structure Key to Improvisation, The Harvard Crimson (2006)](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/11/16/for-guest-structure-key-to-improvisation/)
11. [Interview: Michael Hitchcock, Will Harris](https://willharris.substack.com/p/interview-michael-hitchcock)
12. ['For Your Consideration': Parker Posey, Fresh Air Archive](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/your-consideration-parker-posey)
13. [For Your Consideration (2006), Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/criticreviews/)
14. [Critiques Presse pour le film For Your Consideration, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-110280/critiques/presse/)
15. [For Your Consideration, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3058861569/)
16. [Domestic Box Office For 2006, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2006/)
17. [Catherine O'Hara Was at the Top of Her Game in 'For Your Consideration', Peterson Reviews (2026)](https://petersonreviews.com/2026/03/20/for-your-consideration-2006-movie-review/)
18. [SIGNIS Film Reviews: For Your Consideration](https://www.chevalierfamilylaity.org/movie-reviews/415-signis-reviews-2007)
19. [Snubbed Movie Fires Shot at Oscars With Brazen Billboard, The Daily Beast (2026)](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/snubbed-movie-no-other-choice-fires-shot-at-oscars-with-brazen-billboard-message/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2005 to 2006*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license