Director: Christopher Guest
Starring: Christopher Guest,Parker Posey,Catherine O'Hara,Eugene Levy,Fred Willard,Michael McKean
I hate being disappointed in movies.
Sometimes there are creative talents that are so good, that I build a movie
up in my head. In the case of Best in Show, there is director Christopher
Guest (that's Lord Haden-Guest to the hoi polloi) whose last film was Waiting
for Guffman, which gives me giggles just thinking about. And there's Parker
Posey, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Michael McKean and a host of
other comedic acting talents, many of them veterans of Guffman and Spinal
Tap, the greatest of the “mockumentary” genre.
The movie is about a dog show, the Mayflower, the most prestigious dog show
in the nation. We follow dogs and owners around the country as they prepare for
the competition. It happens that each of the dogs we watch is in a different
breed - as in hounds, toy dogs, etc. - and will have to win Best in Breed at the
Mayflower before they can compete in Best in Show. This, and other bizarre dog
show politics and eccentricities are not delved into by this movie, which is a
shame. If you’re interested, there's a book called Dog Eat Dog that
goes deeper into the esoteric rules and regulations of dog breeding and showing.
What’s good about the movie are the performances. This is basically an
improvised sketch, and to hear Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock describe how
their yuppie characters met at Starbucks (she was at one, he was across the
street in another) is priceless. As is hearing Jennifer Coolidge's Anna Nicole
Smith figure describe the mutual interests that keeps her with her aged, wealthy
husband. The best part, though, is Fred Willard’s clueless “color”
commentator who says anything that comes to mind, just to fill in airspace as
the dog show progresses. He has a perfect foil in the uptight British
commentator played by Jim Piddock.
What’s bad about the movie is the whole premise. Not dog shows. I think a
great comedy could be made about a dog show. But not this way. Here, unlike Spinal
Tap or Guffman, the characters are working against each other, not as
a team. So you get a lot of them, and you don't care about half of them because
you know most will lose. In the other two movies, the characters were horrible,
but you rooted for them because they were part of the team, and you wanted the
team to win (at least their dignity). The competitive structure of this movie
makes it too easy to write off the annoying characters, and withhold your
empathy for characters that you like.
Best in Show is a movie I really wanted to like. Maybe my expectations
were too high. Maybe this review will lower yours. Oh well, like the best of
Guest's films, maybe a few months time, a few drinks, and the movie on tape will
re-ignite my giggles.
