best in show

Film, 2000, 4 stars

Directed: Christopher Guest
Written: Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest

There seem to be two types of filmgoers: those who love the comedies of Christopher Guest and think he's an insightful genius, and those people who really don't get it. There is no middle ground here. However, there is just no denying that starting with the glorious rock madness of This Is Spinal Tap, Guest has invented and then re-invented the mockumentary genre many times over.

This is not my favourite of Guest's films, that prize goes to the hilarious A Mighty Wind, but I still guffawed my way through this gem in a way that was uncomfortable for my fellow theatre-goers. I don't think all of them were feeling the love like me. I really get Guest's sense of the ridiculous, and I love dogs, so this film felt tailor-made for me.

Best in Show revolves around the world of show dogs and their owners, and more specifically the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, a fictional contest presumably modelled on the utterly pretentious Westminster Kennel Club Annual Dog Show held at Madison Square Garden. The film follows, in the faux-documentary style that has become synonymous with Guest's films, the trials and traumas of four sets of obsessive dog owners and their overly-pampered pooches.

Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy seem to write films for the pure delight of getting together with all their friends and having a laugh. The regulars are all here—Eugene Levy himself, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, John Micheal Higgins and Michael Hitchcock. They're by Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde) who is one of the more dependable funny-women in Hollywood. Together these crazy loons become the scariest bunch of dog-lovers ever assembled on film.

Some satires find it hard to sustain the momentum for a full ninety minutes. Here the characters never get old, especially Parker Posey's high-strung dramatics. Her attempt to get a dog psychiatrist to sort out the Oedipal mess of her Weimeraner having seen her and her husband doing it doggy style has to be seen to be believed. I loved Eugene Levy's Gerry Fleck, the man with literally two left feet, and the campy gay guys whose competitive bitchiness hits exactly the right mark.

In terms of lesbian content, that comes in the form of dog trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) who works with millionairess Sherri Ann Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) to train her five-time champion poodle (how's THAT for a euphemism?). Sherri is married to a geriatic fellow and in one of her best lines proudly claims "we could not talk forever and still find things to not talk about".

Lynch relishes her domineering role, sweeping Sherri off her feet and creating their new partnership both in and out of the bedroom, as together they primp and preen the insufferable poodle towards another best in show title. But will they be outfoxed in the end by an underdog? (see what I did there?)

Much of the dialogue was improvised, particularly when the various couples squabble with each other over trivialities, and you get the feeling that a lot was left on the cutting room floor as they tested what did and didn't work. The success of this depends on Guest's inate ability to know when to linger just that little bit longer to squeeze all the funny out of it. You miss a lot on the first pass and almost all his films reward repeat viewing.

Most of all, Guest seems to have a genuine affection for all his characters and his cast, and allows them all a moment to really shine. The result is balanced, rich, hilarious and is made all the more funny because lesbians and gay men get to laugh at themselves right along with all the straight people, and it's no big deal.