Best in Show
Christopher Guest, the man behind
Waiting for Guffman
, turns his comic eye on another little world that takes itself a bit too seriously: the world of competitive dog shows.
Best in Show
follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. They include the yuppie pair (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) who fear they've traumatized their Weimaraner by having sex in front of him; a suburban husband and wife (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) with a terrier and a long history of previous lovers on the wife's part; the Southern owner of a bloodhound (Guest himself) with aspirations as a ventriloquist; and many more. Following the same "mockumentary" format of
Spinal Tap
and
Guffman
,
Best in Show
takes in some of the dog show officials, the manager of a nearby hotel that allows dogs to stay there, and the commentators of the competition (a particularly knockout comic turn by Fred Willard as an oafish announcer). The movie manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their obsessive world. Almost all of the scenes were created through improvisation. While lacking the overall focus of a written script,
Best in Show
captures hilarious and absurd aspects of human behavior that could never be written down. The movie's success is a testament to both the talent of the actors and Guest's discerning eye.
--Bret Fetzer
| uuid: |
762749AD-F1C8-4BE7-842E-1C00FE47283B |
| upc: |
0085391895121 |
| title: |
Best in Show |
| theatricalDate: |
01-01-2000 |
| stars: |
Catherine O'Hara
Eugene Levy
Jennifer Coolidge |
| purchase date: |
05-11-2005 |
| publisher: |
Warner Studios |
| published: |
15-05-2001 |
| price: |
$19.97 |
| net Rating: |
4 |
| MPAA Rating: |
PG-13 |
| minutes: |
90 |
| last lookup time: |
152890000 |
| genre: |
Animals
Obsessive Quests
Comedy
Comedy of Manners |
| fullTitle: |
Best in Show |
| features: |
Color
Closed-captioned
Widescreen
1.85:1 |
| director: |
Christopher Guest |
| currentValue: |
$7.80 |
| created: |
152890000 |
| country: |
us |
| aspect: |
DVD |
| asin: |
B00005ALS0
|
