PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com "We Put the SIN in Cinema"
If you liked Waiting for Guffman, you'll love Best in Show. Both films were directed by Christopher Guest and largely improvised by similar ensemble casts. Guest has clearly perfected the `mockumentary,' a craft he honed as a performer and writer on Rob Reiner's classic film This is Spinal Tap. This time out, Guest point his cynical lens at a ripe target – dog shows.
Show begins with a scene featuring two yuppie attorneys from suburban Illinois (Michael Hitchcock, Happy Texas and Parker Posey, Scream 3). You think they're getting advice from a marriage counselor, but as the scene unfolds, it becomes clear that the couple is really speaking to a pet psychiatrist (it's been done before in Bruce McCulloch's Dog Park, but that's a minor complaint). It seems that Meg and Hamilton Swan are concerned that their Weimaraner, Beatrice, suffered severe psychological damage when she saw them having sex.
The kooky Swan's are just the tip of the iceberg. Show's other dog show participants include:
· Harlan Pepper (Guest) and his bloodhound, Hubert. They live in backwoods Pinenut, North Carolina, where Pepper runs a bait and tackle shop called The Fishing Hole.
· Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara from SCTV) and their Norwich Terrier, Blinky. Based in Fern City, Florida, the Flecks are living proof that opposites attract. Gerry has two left feet (literally) and resembles Kirk Van Houten from The Simpsons, while Cookie's past sexual promiscuity becomes a running gag in the film.
· Stefan Vanderhoof (Michael McKean, Mystery, Alaska), Scott Donlan (John Michael Higgins, Bicentennial Man) and their Shih Tzu, Miss Agnes. This homosexual couple from Tribeca are, respectively, a hairdresser and a professional dog handler.
· Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge, Stifler's mom from American Pie), Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch, What Planet Are You From?) and Rhapsody In White, a `Standard' Poodle. Sheri Ann is a buxom blonde married to a man with one foot in the grave (Patrick Cranshaw from Guest's Almost Heroes). Christy is Rhapsody's butch trainer, and the defending two-time champion of the Mayflower Dog Show.
Each of these dogs competes in the prestigious Mayflower event in Philadelphia's top kennel club (a knock-off of New York's Westminster Show), which is celebrating its 125-year of competition. The first round of the contest chooses the best dog from each breed. The winners of each breed compete for the coveted `Best in Show' award for the top dog.
The show is hosted by two television commentators – one well informed and serious (Jim Piddock, Mad About You) – the other a hysterically clueless boor (Fred Willard, Austin Powers 2). Their banter is easily the funniest part of the film (I've got my fingers crossed that there will be more on the DVD).
In addition to rousing drop dead hilarious performances from his cast, Guest also adds in little touches that you might miss the first time around. Like the row of clocks that all give the same time behind the front desk of the Mayflower competitor's hotel (signs underneath each clock let you know that they're all for east coast cities, like Baltimore, New York and Boston).
Show was loosely written by Guest and Levy, who also framed the story for the critically acclaimed Guffman. It's a big step in the right direction after Guest bombed with 1998's non-mockumentary debacle Almost Heroes. There isn't one thing that would have made Show a more enjoyable film (other than making it longer). You won't see a funnier film this year.
1:30 – PG-13 for language and sex-related material
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews