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Best In Show [2001]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

No-one can deny that the British love their dogs, but Best in Show proves that the Americans are just as canine crazy. Christopher Guest's (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman) latest mockumentary looks at the lives and dodgy doggie loves of the contestants in the USA's most prestigious dog show, The Mayflower. The comedy is observational and mostly improvised, but there are also some genuinely hilarious set pieces and running gags as well as some perfectly timed one-liners, all of which repay repeated viewing. Owners really do become like their dogs as Guest presents a parade of brilliantly observed caricatures, revealing their human weaknesses and quirks and defying you not to find something immensely likeable about each one. Guest slowly introduces us to the principal players in a series of formal interviews and fly-on-the-wall profiles. Meet life partners Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof with their kimonos and matching Shih Tzus; a trophy wife who shares a love of soup and snow peas with her aged, billionaire husband; the suburban couple, Gerry and Cookie Fleck (brilliantly underplayed by co-writer Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara); incredibly highly strung lawyers the Swans and their dysfunctional Weimaraner; and Guest himself as the drawling Southern fishing shop owner and bloodhound breeder Harlan Pepper. This is Guest at his irreverent best.

On the DVD: The pin-sharp widescreen 1.85:1 anamorphic picture means the viewer can really appreciate the film's cinematic nuances, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack means that you don't miss any of the dialogue subtleties either. But the principal attractions are the 15 or so deleted scenes and the brilliant audio commentary by Guest and Eugene Levy which adds yet another comedic dimension to this mockumentary. The theatrical trailer is also thrown in for good measure. The only feature missing is the profiles of real dog owners and their canine loves that featured on the Region 1 version. --Kristen Bowditch


A barking good film
Review date: 2008-02-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

I can't believe that no-one has yet reviewed this film it came out in a fanfare of publicity and has been out on DVD for ages. Well here we go - this is a must-see for dog-owners.The film's premise is how a number of dogs are prepared for a dog show in America. The dogs aren't the problem - it is their kooky owners who range from the suburban anally retentive to the southern state in-bred red-necks. The humour is subtle, cruel and very funny and the film is a delight from beginning to end. Particularly hilarious is the ribald comments made by the American judge of the show to his British counterpart, as the dog's undercarriage is checked, for example,"You don't see that on Carnaby Street!" A really delightful film that will stand up to many viewings - warmly recommended.

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Reviews


Truly the best
Review date: 2007-06-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

This film is one of the funniest I have ever scene. Christopher Guest, you are a comic master. I could watch it again right now just for the "two left feet" scene. In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I cannot recommend this film highly enough...

Best in Show?
Review date: 2007-02-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

Mockumentaries are not anything new, and we all love "The Office". However, Christopher Guest is the Godfather of the mockumentary, and everyone knows him for This is Spinal Tap, but I urge you to delve deeper. This film is based around various people coming from all over America for a dog show, and is full of hilarious and quirky characters that we have come to expect from these films. Christopher Guest himself has to be my favourite in this film, the Red-neck with the Bloodhound, who spent his childhood naming nuts! Catherine O'Hara is excellent in all of Christopher Guest's films and particularly good in this as Eugene Levy's wife, who keeps bumping into people that she has slept with.
This is not my favourite Guest film, that would have to go to the lesser known "Waiting for Guffman", but definitely check this out if you like Guest's other offerings or if you are a dog lover!

Not quite best
Review date: 2006-06-24 Rating: 6 out of 10

Christopher Guest has a rare misstep in "Best in Show," the follow-up to comedy classic "Waiting for Guffman." While "Best" is still a fun and frenetic mockumentary, it isn't up to the standards of its sibling mockumentaries -- it's a little too repetitive and over-the-top.

Welcome to Philadelphia, the home of the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Among the crazy dog owners are Starbucks yuppies Hamilton and Meg Swan (Michael Hitchcock and Parker Posey), gay couple Scott and Stefan (John Michael Higgins and Michael McKean), ventrilogist hick Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest), and buxom airhead Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge) and her lover/trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch). Front and center is two-left-footed Gerry Fleck (Eugene Levy) and his wife Cookie (Catherine O'Hara), whose sexy past keeps coming back to haunt her.

All these people converge at the dog show, and face difficulties ranging from wrenched knees to televised lesbian smooches to lost squeaky toys -- and some of the dogs are getting a bit crazy as well. With an obnoxious commentator watching over it all, they all strive for the ultimate prize. Poodle, Norwich terrier, bloodhound, Shih Tzu or emotionally scarred Weimaraner -- who will be best in show?

"Best in Show" does for dog shows what "This is Spinal Tap" did for old metal -- it makes affectionate fun of them. Christopher Guest returns to mockumentary turf in the moderately funny "Best in Show" -- it's flawed, but still far above the average comedy.

The biggest problem with "Best in Show" is that Guest tries too hard. The jokes and goofiness are over-the-top, belying the mockumentary format. And the jokes get a bit repetitive. How many times can Cookie run into old boyfriends? Isn't the gay humor both cliched and overdone? But, the humor itself is quite funny, with plenty of strange lines like "We have so much in common! We both love soup... and the outdoors... snow peas... talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about."

No flaws can be found in the veteran mockumentary cast -- these people look like they're having a good time. Hitchcock and Posey are chillingly good as the couple who met over J. Crew catalogues in a Starbucks, while Coolidge is deliciously dumb as a bisexual Anna Nicole Smith clone. McKean and Higgins, despite being cliched, play their roles with unadulterated delight. Fred Willard's vulgar commentator is over-the-top stupid, but still amusing.

Despite repetitive humor and the occasional dud joke, Christopher Guest's follow-up to "Waiting for Guffman" is an amusing look behind the scenes of dog shows. It's not "Best in Show," but it's one of the best of breed.

Pine nut, not only a nut but also a town
Review date: 2006-05-22 Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm glad that I watched this more than once over the weekend as after the first viewing I felt that it was a good film but not worth all the hoohaa that most of the other reviewers bestowed upon it. However, as I started to do other things, glimpses of the film kept on creeping up on me, I especially liked the "police negotiator" trying to get his kid down from the shed roof, "I'm going to gouge your eyes out, you freak.." I'm sure is not in any police manual on the planet. On the flip side the couple with the Wiermariner annoyed me so much that I had to mute them. But I watched it again and laughed out loud at the commentator's un-pc remarks, and pretty much every other piece of sparkling dialogue from a cast that were perfectly suited to this type of film. The inside of Christopher Guest's head is a strange and wonderful place indeed!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Catherine O'Hara
Eugene Levy
Fred Willard
Jennifer Coolidge
Jane Lynch

Creators:
Fred Willard (Primary Contributor)
Eugene Levy (Primary Contributor)
Eugene Levy (Writer)
Roberto Schaefer (Cinematographer)
Christopher Guest (Writer)
Robert Leighton (Editor)
Gordon Mark (Producer)
Karen Murphy (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900189514
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-09-10
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 87 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-03-01
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)

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