BEST IN SHOW purportedly tells the story of a group of dog fanciers who enter their dogs in a dog show. The problem is that I wasn't convinced by the script that this was the story.

Told in a stream-of-consciousness fashion similar to that used in THIS IS SPINAL TAP, I found myself actually distracted by the opening scenes. These scenes are set in a dog psychologist's office. The main characters all come in, dogs in tow, discussing the problems they are having with their dogs, as well as possible causes for and solutions to these problems. I was distracted by these scenes because the people speaking didn't convince me that they were actually sharing their deepest secrets with the psychologist. Nor did they convince me that they were truly, 100% committed to finding solutions to what they were worried about; in fact, if nothing else, they seemed horribly superficial, unable or unwilling to deal with their deepest fears and problems.

OK. I'll grant that this is comedy. However, BEST IN SHOW has such a serious tone to it that I was not even convinced that it was a comedy! A mockumentary such as this (and the mockumentary is a comic style which literally mocks documentaries) should be just enough over-the-top to be convincing at least on a comedy level, even if all the actors are reciting their lines in a deadpan fashion. Instead, I felt as if the rumors I'd heard about the movie were only partly true - that I was literally watching people's private conversations rather than seeing them do improvisational comedy.

By way of example, I'm going to discuss the scene in which a couple (who had earlier come into the psychologist's office distressed over their dog's having witnessed their sexual activities) walks into the auditorium with their Weimaraner inside her carrier. While processing into the auditorium, they do not look, nor do they sound, as if they are trying to joke around for the benefit of the camera, WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? style. They actually sound as if they are having a real-life, serious stress-induced argument - not a good thing in improvisational comedy. If you're going to do improvisational comedy - which is what Christopher Guest is supposed to have done here as well as in THIS IS SPINAL TAP - well, then, make sure the actors and actresses know that and are trying to go just enough over-the-top to convince us it's funny.

Perhaps the most comic portion of the entire movie - if one can call it comic - is the dog show itself. Fred Willard did what I wished the other actors and actresses would have done; he took the commentator's role and put it over the top, just the way improvisational comedy should be done. I mean, Willard didn't act like the typical commentator of any event, not even Westminster, and that's what comedy is supposed to be about: making real life look absurd or otherwise exaggerated so that people actually laugh at their own foibles. Unfortunately for the rest of the actors and actresses - as a group - this is the best performance in the entire movie.

I am reminded, again, of the late Gene Siskel's remark about comedy - it's either funny or it isn't. For the reasons I've discussed in this review, I didn't find BEST IN SHOW funny at all, and I don't recommend that anyone view it.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above