Other Titles • Best in Show • Dog Show (1999) • Dog Show! (2001) • Dogumentary (1999)
Synopses for Best in Show (2000)
1.
"This comic jigsaw puzzle is crammed with deliriously funny bits." -Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Si-i-i-t. Sta-a-a-a-a-y. Laugh! Best In Show is "the year's funniest movie." (Lou Lumenick, New York Post). Waiting For Guffman's Christopher Guest directs and many of the film's stars (including Fred Willard as a loopy commentator) reunite for this zany look at dog show participants (and the pooches who love them). Join the fun as Mayflower Kennel Club competitors - a fly-fishing shop owner from Pine Nut, NC (Guest), Shih-Tzu-doting partners (Michael McKean and Jon Michael Higgins), squabbling yuppies (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock), a dim-bulb trophy wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and her ace handler (Jane Lynch) and a married couple (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) who dream up ditties about terriers - vie for the top prize. It's howlarious!
(21 votes)
2.
Christopher Guest, the man behind Waiting for Guffman, turns his comic eye on another little world that takes itself a bit too seriously: the world of competitive dog shows. Best in Show follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. They include the yuppie pair (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) who fear they've traumatized their Weimaraner by having sex in front of him; a suburban husband and wife (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) with a terrier and a long history of previous lovers on the wife's part; the Southern owner of a bloodhound (Guest himself) with aspirations as a ventriloquist; and many more. Following the same "mockumentary" format of Spinal Tap and Guffman, Best in Show takes in some of the dog show officials, the manager of a nearby hotel that allows dogs to stay there, and the commentators of the competition (a particularly knockout comic turn by Fred Willard as an oafish announcer). The movie manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their obsessive world. Almost all of the scenes were created through improvisation. While lacking the overall focus of a written script, Best in Show captures hilarious and absurd aspects of human behavior that could never be written down. The movie's success is a testament to both the talent of the actors and Guest's discerning eye. --Bret Fetzer
From the Back Cover Winner of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Fred Willard) and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine O'Hara) at the American Comedy Awards.
(20 votes)
3.
The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show.
The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them. There is Harlan Pepper (CHRISTOPHER GUEST), a fly-fishing shop owner from Pine Nut, North Carolina, who hopes that his Bloodhound, Hubert, may be the first of his kind to win top prize at the show.
In their upscale Illinois home, yuppie lawyers Meg (PARKER POSEY) and Hamilton Swan (MICHAEL HITCHCOCK) anxiously ready themselves and their somewhat neurotic Weimaraner, Beatrice, for the big event.
Meanwhile, in Fern City, Florida, mild-mannered menswear salesman Gerry Fleck (EUGENE LEVY) and his vivacious wife, Cookie (CATHERINE O'HARA), happily prepare their Norwich Terrier, Winky, for the most important show of his competitive career.
In New York, professional handler Scott Donlan (JOHN MICHAEL HIGGINS) and his longtime partner, hair salon owner Stefan Vanderhoof (MICHAEL McKEAN), happily anticipate the event as they feel that one of their Shih Tzus, Miss Agnes, stands a very good chance of winning the cup.
Although the fabulously wealthy and elderly Leslie Ward Cabot (PATRICK CRANSHAW) and his voluptuous young wife, Sherri Ann Cabot (JENNIFER COOLIDGE), are confident that their two-time champion Standard Poodle, Rhapsody In White, will keep the crown, they aren't taking any chances and have hired ace handler Christy Cummings (JANE LYNCH) to assure their win.
At the Mayflower Dog Show, everything is being organized with the utmost precision under the watchful eye of Mayflower Kennel Club President Dr. Theodore W. Millbank III (BOB BALABAN) and the show's chairman, Graham Chissolm (DON LAKE). Trevor Beckwith (JIM PIDDOCK) and Buck Laughlin (FRED WILLARD) are the Mayflower dog show commentators.
Finally, the hundreds of contestants come together under one giant roof, the audience throngs the massive arena and the competition begins in earnest as television cameras bring the wonderful world of dogs to millions.
(20 votes)
4.
The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them. There is Harlan Pepper (CHRISTOPHER GUEST), a fly-fishing shop owner from Pine Nut, North Carolina, who hopes that his Bloodhound, Hubert, may be the first of his kind to win top prize at the show.
In their upscale Illinois home, yuppie lawyers Meg (PARKER POSEY) and Hamilton Swan (MICHAEL HITCHCOCK) anxiously ready themselves and their somewhat neurotic Weimaraner, Beatrice, for the big event.
Meanwhile, in Fern City, Florida, mild-mannered menswear salesman Gerry Fleck (EUGENE LEVY) and his vivacious wife, Cookie (CATHERINE O'HARA), happily prepare their Norwich Terrier, Winky, for the most important show of his competitive career.
In New York, professional handler Scott Donlan (JOHN MICHAEL HIGGINS) and his longtime partner, hair salon owner Stefan Vanderhoof (MICHAEL McKEAN), happily anticipate the event as they feel that one of their Shih Tzus, Miss Agnes, stands a very good chance of winning the cup.
Although the fabulously wealthy and elderly Leslie Ward Cabot (PATRICK CRANSHAW) and his voluptuous young wife, Sherri Ann Cabot (JENNIFER COOLIDGE), are confident that their two-time champion Standard Poodle, Rhapsody In White, will keep the crown, they aren't taking any chances and have hired ace handler Christy Cummings (JANE LYNCH) to assure their win.
At the Mayflower Dog Show, everything is being organized with the utmost precision under the watchful eye of Mayflower Kennel Club President Dr. Theodore W. Millbank III (BOB BALABAN) and the show's chairman, Graham Chissolm (DON LAKE). Trevor Beckwith (JIM PIDDOCK) and Buck Laughlin (FRED WILLARD) are the Mayflower dog show commentators.
Finally, the hundreds of contestants come together under one giant roof, the audience throngs the massive arena and the competition begins in earnest as television cameras bring the wonderful world of dogs to millions.
(20 votes)
5.
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
(20 votes)
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
Movie Database
In Theaters
