Best in Show

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!!

Right before turning in, the girlfriend said that if I was still up working into the wee hours I should take a break and turn on the telly. Best in Show would be on and although she hadn't seen it, she'd heard it got great reviews.

I kept working and forgot the time. The telly was on but I ignored it. All of a sudden I began hearing this very weird dialog. 'We like the same things - soup, snow peas, talking - and not talking.' I thought to myself 'what is this - some kind of weird porn movie?' And I continued ignoring it for a while longer until I heard the voices of Levy and Begley Jr. It was then I remembered what the girlfriend had said.

I looked the movie up at the IMDb quickly and was surprised to see who was behind it: Christopher Guest aka Nigel Tufnel, the man with the extra loud guitar amplifier. I knew then I was lucky to still be awake to witness this one.

I made two more checks at the IMDb before getting back to the movie: the number of awards and nominations and the box office. Not surprisingly this was a low budget venture, and not surprisingly either it's garnered tonnes of awards and nominations. The studio made a profit off this one, but it's pocket change in comparison to the big blockbusters. Still, it must be a kind of Woody Allen and Orion kind of thing: movies like this make the studio look good.

On to the movie: it's a riot, a bloody riot. It might not be your cuppa, but then OK - turn it off or watch something else. But there is so much in this one - it plays a bit like an Altman. Lots of hand-held too. And when you finally get to the show itself on comes Fred Willard and takes it away. He uses Jim Piddock as a foil - actually he uses almost everything as a foil. And if you think his portrayal is too much over the top, reflect on the fact it's supposedly a copy of an actual commentator at shows of this kind.

This type of movie is either extraordinarily difficult or admirably easy to make, and I suspect it's a bit of both. Some of the skits are just too much, and everywhere you turn the acting is inspired. One scene with I believe Posey in a pet shop is precious - and not only her work but the shop assistant's. Amazing stuff.

Mostly my sympathies went to Begley Jr who was the receptionist at the hotel. Meeting all these weird types and trying to remain accommodating and representative - it must be difficult if not impossible. There are some very weird characters in this one.

And you may be asking yourselves 'watch a mockumentary about a dog show and its participants?' And that's the whole point - it's hilarious; it's a riot.

I give it an 11.

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.

I'll admit that I've never seen "Waiting for Guffman", 1997's critically acclaimed comedy mockumentary about a small town thats that stages a pageant. When the advertising for Best in Show had the tagline "From the Team That Brought You Waiting for Guffman", a fair number of critics out there implied in their reviews that only people that are familiar with the film or its filmmakers and cast would have a good time seeing this film. For shame, critics, for shame times two! Any critic that implies something like that with any film probably doesn't want to share the film's wealth with the rest of the world, but this is one film that I hope people will experience, now that its video/dvd. "Best in Show" is, without a doubt, the best comedy of 2000.

The film begins with a mockumentary style, introducing the main competitors (not to mention screwballs) of the annual Mayflower "Best In Show" competition, where dogs of all breeds come to compete to see who is the top dog. We have the loveable and gullable Harry Pepper (Guest) with his bloodhound, the simple Gerry & Cookie Fleck (Levy & O'Hara) with their terriors, nut-case yuppies Hamilton & Meg Swan (Hitchcock & Posey), the gay dog groomers Scott Dolan & Stefan Vanderhoof (Higgins & McKean), and the airheaded millionare Sheri Ann Ward Cabot (Coolidge) along with her trainer Christy Cummings (Lynch). They all have their minds on one simple object: The Blue Ribbon, which will be awarded to the best dog. And...do I have to tell you the rest?

Director/writer/star Guest's idea of humor is one that assures me that there are comedies out there that are worth laughing at, and that the idiocy of films like "American Pie" or other pointless "teenage" flicks won't take over the world after all. His idea is simple: make your comedy not just funny, but SMART funny. But instead of following in the brilliant footsteps of films like "Zero Effect" and "High Fidelity", he used a rather unusual approach (and as I understand, he also used this approach for "Guffman"). Whether you notice or not, a very large part of the film is improvisation. In other words, what the actors say and do were probably not written in the script, maybe even not even dreamed of by Guest and co-writer/star Levy. But with a gentle hand from Guest, he and the actors pulled off a hilarious theatrical feat that probably would have flopped if handled by other, less adept actors. Now that's smart!

The cast is, of course, what makes improv work the most. All of them are a (comedic) marvel to behold, especially Guest as Pepper. But the real standout has to be Fred Williard as Buck Laughlin, the clueless announcer at the competition who can spin out the most outrageously funny stories and comments that no announcer would even dream of...that is, if the announcer was trying to be funny. Williard can go from talking about the dog to suddenly going on and on about how much he can bench press. There's even a part were he gives out an idea for a new marketing strategy: have sexy women pose in tight shirts and shorts with the dogs and imply something like "have a doggie-style of a time". Its priceless, as is his performance.

I hope that people engage in this 90-minute "dogumentary". The film deserves so much recognition. It did get nominated for Best Picture-Comedy at the Golden Globes, but didn't win. I can't see why. I mean, in the comedy department, it is best in show.

GRADE: A