Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I'm STILL howling with laughter a week later
If you're a dog enthusuiast of any sort, or wonder what it is with those dog shows, turn off Animal Planet for an evening and watch Best In Show. Written by Spinal Tap creator Christopher Guest and SCTV's Eugene Levy, Best In Show takes a similarly wry yet loving look at the culture of amateur dog shows.As with This Is Spinal Tap, the dog show world is merely a backdrop against which the cast improvises a wild variety of characters: a pair of neurotic yuppies who met in a Starbuck's, a trophy wife and her trainer "friend," a gay couple comprised of polar opposites - all these people would be funny enough by themselves, but against the surreal seriousness of dog showmanship they are totally hilarious. This is one of those movies where two days later you're boring people at work by repeating lines from the movie. Best In Show really has benefitted from the experience gained during Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman, keeping a real tight comedic pace using editing - in a film where the dialog is mostly improvised, Guest uses cuts to eliminate some of the lags in between stellar comedic bits. It therefore watches as if the whole thing were carefully orchestrated and scripted, not slowing down a bit. I'm tempted to say that some people won't "get" Best In Show, but I really don't see how - it's paced well, it's performed well, the comedy is not mean-spirited or nasty, it's just plain funny, funny, funny. Everyone who's seen Spinal Tap needs to see this, and even if you didn't quite like Spinal Tap, you will like Best In Show.
Rating: - I Give It 5 Dog Biscuits!!
I don't even remember if this movie made it to the theaters in my town. This is the kind of small gem that slips past critics and moviegoers and either finds an audience in the video market, or passes away into obscurity. Those viewers who enjoyed the improvisational comedy of Christopher Guest's previous efforts (This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting For Guffman) will love Best In Show. It features a wonderful cast that includes Michael McKean and John Michael Higgins, the flambouyantly gay owners of a prize winning shih tzu, a yuppie couple (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) whose Weimaraner is as neurotic as they are, Christopher Guest as the proud owner of a Bloodhound named Hubert who also fancies himself a ventriloquist, and Catherine O'Hara as a former nympho who keeps running into old boyfriends (she's had hundreds of them), much to the chagrin of geeky husband Eugene Levy. They are all competing for Best In Show at the prestigious Mayflower Kennel Club dog show. Their ridiculous and outrageous behavior is captured in a documentary style. Fred Willard chews the scenery hilariously as a commentator who seems to know nothing about dogs or anything else for that matter. Don't let this one pass you by, it's well worth the price. The DVD also comes with some very funny deleted scenes and a commentary by Guest and Levy.
Rating: - "...In some countries, these dogs are eaten."
This was a funny, funny movie, to say the least. I've never seen "Waiting for Guffman", but "Spinal Tap" still makes me laugh to this day. My main attraction to this movie was Fred Willard(known lately for his hilarious "conversations" with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show). This man does wonders when it comes to improv, and this movie just displays that so well. The film polks fun at Dog Shows(one event in which it's participants take itself WAAAAAAAAAY too serious). This is best displayed when Fred Willard, playing a commentator for the show, asks his partner if he could guess how much Fred benched in his prime. Also to mention his hilarious anecdote for dressing up a bloodhound in a Sherlock Holmes uniform, in order to "get the crowd pumped". I liked this movie, and anyone a fan of mellow humor, rather than gross-out humor(Farrely Bros, etc.) should check this out. It's more of a comedy for people in their 30's and up, but I'm 15, and got a tremendous kick out of it. I won't touch down on the characters, because I'm sure you've read plenty on that already. But, if your in the mood for one hell of a comedy, or just a plain old Fred Willard fan like myself, this is definitely worth a view.
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