Consider this (The hint of the century)

Though he can be a great deadpan comic actor, I've never been as big a fan of Christopher Guest written and/or directed films as I know some are. Most of his movies that I have seen are a little thin on laughs for me personally.

Doesn't mean he's not funny, just that he doesn't happen to get right into my pocket. But I continually try again. Just because I don't find as many laughs in his films as many do doesn't mean I don't find any.

And he almost always goes after irresistable targets, like drug-addled rock 'n' roll bands. Or actors and the film industry. In For Your Consideration, he returns to the latter topic for the first time since The Big Picture in 1989.

It's about a trio of actors who are either at the end of (Catherine O'Hara), never had (Harry Shearer), or just starting (Parker Posey) a career when they get bitten by the Oscar buzz. It's actually not as good a film as The Big Picture, which I've long felt was badly overlooked.

But it's got a kicker, a sting in the tail. Something that makes you realize this time, maybe part of the reason the laughs haven't been coming as fast and furious is because the film is not only a comedy. It's truly a comi-tragedy.

The problem here is that I can't say too much about why without dulling the impact. Not that it's a big twist like the meaning of Rosebud or something, but it should be revealed to you gradually.

I will say that there's a big hint in this news item. Which actually managed to make me cool off on someone I've long thought was as close to a dictionary definition of "hot" as I was ever going to get.

I remember once reading an interview with a couple of members of Aerosmith. The first time they saw Spinal Tap, it was a time when they were at a real low ebb in their careers. In so many words, it scared the hell out of them.

They could relate to it so closely that it touched too deep a nerve to laugh at.

I suspect that one or two actresses in their 50's, or probably even younger, will be having a similar reaction to Catherine O'Hara's performance in this movie as the cruelly named Marilyn Hack.

It's the key to the whole tragedy.

The carousel spins; it only brings some people so close to the fire, and the only thing more rare than a second chance is that first one. So if it comes around again, some people hold on so tight to that gift horse that they squeeze the very life out of it.