|
Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
There's something about dog shows that's terribly
amusing. I know those who show off their purebreds take them very,
very seriously, but for onlookers, like Christopher Guest, the
possibilities for comedy are endless. In fact, sanity goes to the dogs
where Best of Breed trophies are concerned. This wacky mockumentary, a
worthy successor to "Waiting for Guffman," centers on Philadelphia's
annual Mayflower Dog Show, similar to New York's Westminster Dog Show.
Diverse contenders include, from Illinois, a bickering, neurotic
yuppie couple (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock) with Beatrice, their
depressed Weimaraner; from Florida, a milquetoast menswear salesman
(Eugene Levy) with, literally, two left feet and bubbly, his
promiscuous wife (Catherine O'Hara), showing Winky, their Norwich
Terrier; from North Carolina, a fly-fishing shop owner (Christopher
Guest) with his beloved Bloodhound Hubert; from New York, a
flamboyantly gay couple (John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean) with
Miss Agnes, one of their Shih Tzus; and from the Main Line, a trashy
trophy wife (Jennifer Coolidge) and her hired handler (Jane Lynch)
with their two-time champion Standard Poodle, Rhapsody in White. Plus
there's the show's President (Bob Balaban), chairman (Don Lake), and
mis-matched commentators (Jim Piddock, Fred Willard), along with a
long-suffering hotel manager (Ed Begley Jr.) Guest and his
co-scripter Eugene Levy obviously encouraged their ensemble cast into
improvisational riffs that are executed with somewhat predictable but
barkingly loony, fast-paced finesse, particularly the one-liners and
non-sequiturs. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Best in Show"
is a dementedly funny 9. It's a hilarious howl - a walloping woof!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
|
out of 4
