There's something about dog shows that's terribly amusing. I know those who show off their purebreds take them very, very seriously, but for onlookers, like Christopher Guest, the possibilities for comedy are endless. In fact, sanity goes to the dogs where Best of Breed trophies are concerned.
This wacky mockumentary, a worthy successor to "Waiting for Guffman," centers on Philadelphia's annual Mayflower Dog show, which is patterned on New York's famed Westminster Dog show.
The diverse contenders include, from Illinois, a bickering, neurotic, uptight yuppie couple (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock) with Beatrice, their depressed Weimaraner; from Florida, a milquetoast menswear salesman (Eugene Levy)who was born with, literally, two left feet and his bubbly, promiscuous wife (Catherine O'Hara), showing Winky, their Norwich Terrier; from North Carolina, a nut-obsessed fly-fishing shop owner (Christopher Guest) with his beloved Bloodhound Hubert; from New York, a flamboyantly gay couple (John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean) with Miss Agnes, one of their two Shih Tzus; and from the Main Line, a trashy trophy wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and her hired handler (Jane Lynch) with their two-time champion Standard Poodle, Rhapsody in White.
Plus there's the show's President (Bob Balaban), chairman (Don Lake), and mis-matched commentators (Jim Piddock, Fred Willard), along with a long-suffering hotel manager (Ed Begley Jr.). Christopher Guest and his co-scripter Eugene Levy obviously encouraged their ensemble cast into improvisational riffs that are executed with somewhat predictable but barklingly loony, fast-paced finesse, particularly the one-liners and non-sequiturs. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Best in Show" is a dementedly funny 9. It's a hilarious howl - a walloping woof!
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Christopher Guest says the concept for this film was born during a trip he took six years ago to exercise the dogs he and his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis, own. "There were people there with purebred dogs, with mutts and so on," he recalls, "and, as I mingled with them, I started thinking that this might be an interesting idea to explore in a movie. Guest did further research at a number of regional dogs shows, plus the prestigious Westminster Dog show in Madison Square Garden. What propelled him and Eugene Levy was why people would devote their lives to dog shows.
"Best in Show" was shot entirely on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Los Angeles. The film's technical advisor was Earlene Luke, a veteran all-breed professional handler, who put the actors through their paces. She taught them the ability to "stack" (arranging the dog in the proper posture) and to work with the coats of the different breeds.
Si-i-i-t. Sta-a-a-a-a-y. Laugh! Best In Show is the year s funniest movie. (Lou Lumenick, New York Post). Waiting For Guffman s Christopher Guest dire...More at Buy.com
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