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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
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for language and sex-related material
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