Best in Show
Comments: 3
The night before last I watched “Best in Show.” The film came out in 2000 directed by (and featuring) Christopher Guest. Guest and Eugene Levy co-wrote it. Levy also appears in the film (you might recognise him as the dad from “American Pie”). Also appearing were Catherine O’Hara (the mother from the “Home Alone” films), Michael McKean (the father from the same series), John Michael Higgins, Fred Willard & Jane Lynch.
The premise is simple; the movie is loosely shot in the style of a documentary about a group of people and their dogs who are competing in a dog show. A lot of (if not most) of the scenes seemed to have been improvised, although there’s a level of confidence and talent at work that’s rare. The result is a very tight and assured production which nonetheless lacks none of the seat-of-the-pants danger that powers good improv.
I must have been in exactly the right mood for this film as I thought it was just about perfect. It’s brilliantly cast, funny as hell, dry as a bone, well paced and, best of all, good natured. It’s probably easy enough to offer up a range of fairly obvious stereotypes and make fun of them (which the movie certainly does) but the real achievement is in the connection we end up feeling with each of the characters. Everyone in the film is something of a joke yet each character is surprisingly real and sympathetic.
The next time you’re kind of tired, don’t want to think too hard but don’t want to be fed mindless crap, rent this movie. You’ll be in a much better mood afterwards than you were before.
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Posted to Film • 2002.05.08 (Wed) • 21:53
Comments
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens 2002.05.09, 12:08
Best In Show is pretty good, especially when Parker Posey explains how she met her husband in a Starbucks…he was in the one across the street…and how they knew they were meant for each other because they shopped from the same catalogs.
But I think his earlier movie, Waiting for Guffman, is even funnier. Done in the same pseudo-docu style. Also with Eugene Levy and Parker Posey.
Posted by Bill Zeller 2002.05.14, 10:32
Hey,
I saw this movie on May 10th (it was recommended to me that afternoon) and I thought it was very entertaining as well. It was totally not what I expected, and I wasn’t in the best mood for it, but I still enjoyed it. I think I’ll watch it again before I have to return it…
Will have to track down “Waiting for Guffman” if you think it’s even better. Can’t wait, although I wouldn’t be surprised if my local video store doesn’t have it. They’re extremely patchy in some respects and obsessive completists in others.
Parker Posey and her neuro-yuppie husband were just hilarious. I know a couple who are so similar. The part where he asks Pepper about threadbare jacket he’s wearing (“Is that L.L. Bean?” Let me just check.”) is this guy to a tee.
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