| Best in Show |
 |
|
|
 |
| Rating: Good Distributor: Warner Brothers Running Length: 1 hour, 30 minutes Genre: Comedy, Mockumentary Release Date: September 29th, 2000 (limited) MPAA Rating: PG-13 Director: Christopher Guest Cast: Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Eugene Levy, Parker Posy, Michael Hitchcock, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Jim Piddock, and Patrick Cranshaw. |
| Plot: Christopher Guest creates yet another Mockumentary, a film that is a fake documentary. Another example of this type of film is The Big Tease. In this film dog owners are "interviewed," about the upcoming major dog show, The Mayflower. There are several dog owners who are the main subjects of the "documentary." There are also secondary characters interviewed that hold major positions that relate to the dog show like a stadium worker, or a hotel manager. The main characters include the defending champions- a lesbian couple, one whom is pretending to be married to a very eldery man for money. There is also a gay couple who own a pair of Shih Tzu dogs, a wealthy couple who have a depressed dog, a humble man who has a Blood Hound, and a troublesome wife and her geeky husband who have a terrier. |
| Critique: Best in Show may not be the best comedy of the year 2000, but it's the funniest. (If you're confused by that statement I'll clarify - a film can be a very well done comedy and not attempt to be laugh out loud funny.) It never out stays its welcome at a humble 90 minutes, and keeps the quality jokes coming. The jokes usually stay away from the grosse-out style, and are mainly high brow. This is the sort of intelligent, slapstick comedy that is usually muffled by big fat studio films that merely make you want to take a shower. Still movies like this get made, and so I guess we can be grateful for that. That's not to say Best in Show is a great film, it's just the idea that good, tasteful comedies are still made is nice. Through the whole year of 2000 there hasn't been much to laugh at (in a good way). Technically, there isn't much to analyze, and the only thing to remark on behind the scenes is the director's ability with actors. Guest seems to be fairly strong in that category. Outstanding cast members include Eugene Levy as a geeky husband with two left feet, Micheal McKean as the pleasantly understated gay man, and of course Fred Willard as the clueless announcer. Some characters that are not as strong include the unfunny snobby couple, who are more mean that gently satirical. Also, but not as big as of mistep is Christopher Guest's on screen character, who comes across as too mundane to invoke much laughter. The writing, which was nominated for a screen actors guild award for 2000 is intelligent, subtle, and of course effective in its goal to be funny. Although I completely respect the Academy Awards, they do not reward the less ambitious films enough, although they have in the past. They did not nominate Best in Show, when they could have over say Gladiator, whose writing was not its strength even for its supporters. Best in Show may be forgotten years later, but for now it will provide a good time for many. Hopefully, people will be attracted to Guest's work on video, although he usually isn't popular in theaters. I highly recommend this tasteful silliness. review by supernothingman |