If you blinked during the third quarter, you probably missed $2.5 million of your tax dollars dissipating into the high-def ether — but fortunately, Story Balloon caught it for you. The ad, created by Christopher Guest and starring some of his regular cast members from his mockumentaries, cost the Census Bureau a fortune to run during the Super Bowl. Luckily, this year the game was exciting throughout, so people were paying attention, but is that necessarily a good thing?

I’m a big fan of Guest’s mockumentaries, but this is no Best in Show or This is Spinal Tap — in fact, it’s not even a For Your Consideration. Even if it was a laugh riot, it still wouldn’t have justified the cost, but I think the Census Bureau would have done better with a straightforward celebrity PSA explaining the importance of cooperating with the Census. This tries a little too hard and comes up short.

Of course, Hot Air readers may have a different opinion. Take the poll, designed to allow for a fair split of opinion on both the commercial and its value, and let’s see if I’m far off with my take!