Best in Show

Christopher Guest is a comedic treasure. Not only does he know just how to "mockument" the truly mundane (in this case, the show-dogs and their weirdo owners) but his characters are always so run-of-the-mill yet bizarre; they're either out of touch or wacky Midwesterner; people you can't help but laugh at. With Best In Show, it feels like he's playing that to the hilt and I think it's my favorite movie of his as a result

This is an ensemble cast in the best sense, a group of people perfectly at home with the material -- clumsy, ordinary and awkward -- yet they utter some of the most ridiculous things. I don't think I could stand to be around any of these people, but they kept me in stitches the entire time. The only person I can really single out is Fred Willard, and it's because (I have no doubt) he was let loose as the competition's sportscaster and improv'd the whole thing. The guy doesn't let up!

It's not often that I laugh out loud at a movie, but this one made me several times. I fell in love with Parker Posey in this movie. I don't really know why since she's completely mean and pretty much unlikeable, but she's just so good. The "busy-bee" exchange with the guy in the pet shop makes me crack-up every time. And what can you say about Fred Willard and Eugene Levy...

It's a mockumentary about a dog show and a bunch of wacky dog owners. Don't expect to be moved in some epiphanatical (I might have just made up a word) way after watching this movie, but if you just let yourself get caught up in the absurdity, you'll probably have a few good laughs.

Parker posey and Jennifer Coolidge are absolutely hysterical in this movie. I love situational awkwardness- and this movie fills my eyes and ears with it. You have to watch the acting just as much as listening to what they say. Otherwise you might not enjoy it as much

I just love this movie / mock-u-mentary! Best in Show is a "mockumentary" made by the same team who brought you the also brilliant "This Is Spinal Tap". It follows several contestants of the Mayflower Dog Show and their dogs. You have a sexually frustrated yuppie couple who met at "Starbucks from across the street", a couple of Gay queens with their Shihtzus, a working class couple with a wife who has had "hundreds of boyfriends", a redneck ventriloquist with his blood hound, and a "Anna Nicole Smith" trophy wife wannabe and her lesbian dog handler. This is just such a wacky bunch - it is a great ride. Some may find it a bit too slow - but I just loved all the subtle humour in it - you can definitely get repeat viewings out of this one! It is a total scream!!

Before the lights went out and the movie Best in Show began, the representative from Warner Bros. asked the audience two questions: "Any Spinal Tap fans?" and "Any dog fans?" The audience responded affirmatively in both instances, and such began the movie. If you answer yes to both of these questions, this is a must-see movie. If you answered no, you should still see this satirical romp following the actions of the Mayflower Dog Show in Philadelphia. The director, writer and star of Best in Show, Christopher Guest, is no newcomer to fake documentaries. As the lead guitarist in the aforementioned This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and the director, writer and star of Waiting for Guffman (1997), he is perhaps the master of the field, exploring a common theme, as reflected in the Guffman tag line: "There's a good reason some talent remains undiscovered." Guest explores this theme further in Best in Show, looking at ordinary people not mockingly but almost tenderly. You understand the characters' fears and insecurities, and you can only see too much of people you know or yourself in them. More importantly, you like these characters. When Eugene Levy's character Gerry Fleck reacts to his wife Cookie's (Catherine O'Hara) past wild sex life, you know that this is a man who loves his wife and whom his wife loves, despite his huge dorkiness and her having slept with almost every man they meet. "Pookie and I work as a team," he says, and they do, singing in harmony about their beloved terrier. The other characters are as banal and human as they can be; the braces-wearing yuppie couple, played with aplomb by Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock, take their dog to a therapist because the dog is depressed and angry about having seen the couple in the Congress of the Cow Kama Sutra position. They wax poetic about having been "raised amongst catalogues," extolling the virtues of J. Crew and L.L. Bean, and describe their similarities as loving "soup, outdoors, snowpeas, talking and not talking." These two are perhaps the most caricaturistic and one-dimensional of the characters in the film, but you feel sad for them for their transference of parental instinct onto their woeful dog. Best in Show has its share of comedic highs, most notably, the interplay between Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard), the hopelessly clueless commentator, and Trevor Beckwith (Jim Piddock), the British dog expert. As Buck barrages Trevor with inane and hilarious questions, Trevor brings up the most specific detail about the different breeds and the particular judges. Buck reminds me of my Uncle Bob, the man who doesn't know anything about anything but talks about it anyway, and it's perhaps the funniest part of the movie. This movie is kind to its characters while making fun of them, and the result is hilarity. While I'm curious about the new Tim Meadows' vehicle The Ladies Man, this is the most original and, arguably, the funniest comedy out right now.