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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 34.09%
Worth A Look: 49.24%
Average: 12.88%
Pretty Bad: 0.76%
Total Crap: 3.03%
11 reviews, 66 user ratings
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| Best in Show |
by Scott Weinberg
"Improvisation at its finest."
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Sure, it's easy to poke fun of arrogance and pretense. The key is not to overdo it. Best of Show is a very funny example of how you can tease and ridicule a certain group, without actually abusing them. Christopher Guest's Best in Show is a great little movie that sets its sights on a truly obnoxious group of people - Dog Freaks.You know the type; the people that talk nonsense to their dogs and treat them like small retarded children. The people that always refer to their animal as 'Mr. something' or something ending in 'IE'. (Mookie, Loopie, Crotchie) Those freaks who are so wrapped up in their silly dogs that they neglect to notice how truly shallow and goofy they are. (The people that is, not the dogs.) For fanatics of this nature, simply owning and loving a pet isn't enough; their dogs have to be the best.
Best of Show introduces us to a wide array of such dog freaks. As with Christopher Guest's earlier Waiting for Guffman, the fun of this movie comes in watching some great comedic talents basically making things up as they go along. Since the large portion of Best in Show is done improvisationally, it certainly helps to have some quick and funny actors on hand.
Faring the best are Parker Posey (what else is new) as the uptight and controlling Meg Swan, and Catherine O'Hara as Cookie Fleck. Both actresses have proven before that they know how to be funny, and they steal every scene they appear in. Almost as successful are Eugene Levy (as Cookie's husband Jerry) and Michael McKean as the pompous Stefan Vanderhoof. Oddly, director Christopher Guest gives himself the dryest of all the roles, that of idiot/hunter/ventriliquist Harlan Pepper. Veteran character actor Larry Miller shows up for one five-minute scene, and may actually earn the biggest laughs in the movie.
All of these kooks (and several more) are brought together for an annual dog show in Philadelphia, PA. (The entire movie was filmed in Canada.) In most movies featuring a competition like this, the main focus would be who's gonna win? In this movie, it's not at all important which dog wins, but simply how far the owners will go to gain the prize.
In scene after scene, the actors throw lines back and forth, and if you look carefully, you'll be able to tell when one actor surprises the other. Such is the beauty of improv. This technique may result in a 'disjointed plot', but the 'three-act structure' isn't really the point here. What Best in Show does offer is a solid handful of belly laughs, thanks to the timing, chemistry and comedic talents of the actors involved.Watching these performers wrap themselves around these ridiculous characters makes for a fun time indeed. Satire is always funniest when it's smart, and Best in Show is damn smart, even if it is awfully silly. If you find yourself offended by the humor in Best of Show, you're probably a true 'dog freak' and you need to chill.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4475&reviewer=128
originally posted: 10/25/00 18:22:44
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USA
13-Oct-2000 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
12-Apr-2001 (M)
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