Best in Show

Name: Best in Show
Genre: Comedy
Released: September 27, 2000
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 78
Cast: Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy

2000

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Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 63 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 63 Ratings

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Best In Show

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution | Release Date: September 27, 2000 | PG-13

Starring: Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy

Summary: Centered at the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, the film follows several bizarre dog owners and their sometimes neurotic pets.

Director: Christopher Guest

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 90 min

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Critic Reviews

100

William Arnold

No one does this genre better than actor-writer-director Christopher Guest. Read full review

David Edelstein

Best in Show has an uproarious wild card in Fred Willard, who plays a hack commentator convinced that he's the most amusing fellow on television Read full review

Roger Ebert

Wickedly funny. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

In general, the dogs-as-mirrors theme--the crazy things people do with and in relation to their pets--is what keeps this going, and the laughs are sporadic but genuine. Read full review

Desmond Ryan

A droll piece of deadpan played with mostly unerring pitch by a talented cast.

Rita Kempley

Just isn't as fresh, focused or uniformly funny as "Waiting for Guffman." Read full review

Mark Holcomb

Best in Show succeeds only insofar as you're willing to laugh at a bunch of sad freaks. Read full review

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User Reviews

krogar

Jan 30, 2012

This is a masterpiece of humour! Once again I am puzzled by the negative reviews here. It is a delightful caricature made to look like a documentary.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MovieBuff

Jun 24, 2002

The brilliance of the film lies in the slew of shockingly accurate portrayals, especially the easily glossed-over, yet priceless moments that kept my laughter rolling throughout ("We could talk, or not-talk, forever" ; The prideful open-mouth braces-twins ; " '...melon breasts.' The brilliance of the film lies in the slew of shockingly accurate portrayals, especially the easily glossed-over, yet priceless moments that kept my laughter rolling throughout ("We could talk, or not-talk, forever" ; The prideful open-mouth braces-twins ; " '...melon breasts.' 'Oh, Thank you Gerry! Thank you!") as well as the writer-director's ability to point out those ridiculous displays of humanity we can all identify with, while avoiding the more caustic mockery seen in something like "Waiting for Guffman" or "Bottle Rockets". The film has us fall in love with the imperfections of people we sometimes cannot endure, and the unsurmountable majesty of the crowning moment offered the purest glimpse of esctasy I've ever felt from a film.… Expand

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LucyK

Nov 26, 2005

This 'mockumentary' does an exellent job of what it sets out to do: make people laugh, and make those same people want to attend a dog show.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Katherine

Jul 24, 2006

Yes I gave it an 8. While there were parts that made me laugh alot, I just could not really get into it. It's a great movie though.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ERG1008

Sep 3, 2010

As usual with Christopher Guest, the attention to detail is brilliant. The characters are all slightly odd but very, very real & Fred Willard is just amazing.
His line about his proctologist is up there with the greatest comedy quotes.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

DawdlingPoet

Nov 24, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I thought that this movie somehow reminded me of the recent hit sitcom Modern Family, what with the different characters with their often over the top personalities. The emphasis on the movie was more on the dog owners and their eccentricities compared to the actual dogs themselves, which probably got less screen time overall. The movie shows the hotel that featured in the movie (called The Taft Hotel) and how they prepare for the dog show (with the participants staying there overnight), which is apparently the time when the hotel is at their busiest of the year, which adds to the overall tone of the movie about how much the dog show means to the participants and the area.

The movie is more like a documentary type sitcom and so it seems more like a TV programme than a feature length movie, indeed many of the participants and also staff at the hotel are interviewed as if it were a documentary (although of course this is a fictional movie, a spoof). Relationship issues play a part, with Gerry Fleck (yes, the names of the participants are also a bit wild and wonderful, you could say) being quite uncomfortable with his wife Cookie who seems to continue to bump into old flames, considering he's quite a modest man (indeed he has his own comical attributes including literally two left feet) and she was clearly someone who alot of people held in their affections, put it that way and then there's also Meg and Hamilton Swan, who argue frequently and also the movie starts with them or/and their dog in therapy after a rather embarrassing incident.

Its worth mentioning that Jane Lynch is in this movie, playing Christy Cummings, the owner of the dog (a rather large poodle) who won the previous two years 'best in show' award. Jane is probably best known at the moment as Sue Sylvester in the musical drama Glee and again in this movie she is quite headstrong and pretty sure of success, though you'll have to watch the movie to see whether or not her attitude is warranted.

Another set of characters worth mentioning are the two show judges, one American who is the typical wise crack who says all the old play on word type jokes relating to certain dog breeds and so on and the other an English guy who tries to maintain dignity and explain more about the way the dog show works.

I don't think there's much more that can be said about the movie without giving much away but I thought it was quite interesting and amusing at points, though it may be more likely to make you cringe than anything else but it is quite entertaining. Some of the dogs reactions to situations and moreso to the behaviour of their owners at the show is quite comical and certainly says something. Being that me and my family owned a dog until December of last year and knowing how attached we were to her, I suppose I could relate to some of the characters and their clear love and belief in their dogs and how much they wanted them to win, although we never entered our dog into any such competitions. I don't particularly like the stereotype of owners being quite so fanatical, I don't think thats entirely fair but other than that, there's not much I can fault the movie on really, its quite quirky, amusing (rather than hilarious but it is certainly pretty funny) and overall pretty diverting and entertaining, though it does have more of a TV show type feel to it rather than a big feature film type feel to it.

Yes I'd recommend it I think, although its rather quirky and some might not enjoy it as much as others possibly. There perhaps isn't enough of the movie dedicated to the dogs themselves, be aware that this is more about the owners than the dogs although it is still pretty amusing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Hadi290

Sep 20, 2016

one of half a dozen movies that i couldn't even finish watching! It's all about a dog show and peoples who are crazy about their dogs. It's supposed to be funny and have some kind of unique comedy and i see that a lot of people liked it. It's not my taste of comedy but that's the point whatone of half a dozen movies that i couldn't even finish watching! It's all about a dog show and peoples who are crazy about their dogs. It's supposed to be funny and have some kind of unique comedy and i see that a lot of people liked it. It's not my taste of comedy but that's the point what one considers funny, another does not.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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32	#32 Best Movie of 2000
71	#71 Most Discussed Movie of 2000
74	#74 Most Shared Movie of 2000