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Dogs are great and I love them to death, but I do not desire to fancy or have a fondness for them. For example, I cannot understand why people go to dog shows. It’s as if they want to make a pet of theirs look like a glorious trophy while showcasing the worst of them. Why should dogs be made to sit all day looking pretty in a prance, followed by a fancy coat shampoo and pamper? I could say the same thing for humans. That being said, pampered dogs are made to have accidents on the rug, gnaw on shoes, and bark at cars. The only reason I support dogs and joke about them is because they pour comedic value to a conversation.
I love how “Best in Show” captures this contradiction, or mocumentary by Christopher Guest that makes a mockery out of everything a dog show in Philadelphia has to offer with no holds barred. Along with the Parker Posey’s brilliance in the movie, she snaps and destroys the store clerk who does not have a Busy Bee dog toy. You would think, based on the hilarious chaotic genius of this movie, she was out for blood. Spoiler alert: she was not. Instead, she frets and screams for her starving dog to assist her toy. ‘Busy Bee! Busy Bee!’ She’s frantically throwing out these catchphrases as if she was calling for an emergency antidote to save a snake bitten person. Out of context, you’d be laughing at the sheer brilliance of how this comedic word vomit makes this scene a visual masterpiece.
We are introduced to a few dogs as well as their respective owners, who are first seen in their homes, and later, at the Mayflower Kennel Club’s dog show, where a broadcast of the show has Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard) providing color commentary. Buck is Bill Garagiola if Bill Garagiola was pleasant, super talkative but very ignorant and prone to getting lost in his thoughts. He questions whether there would be help the judges with a bribe, is certain that Columbus was a Pilgrim, comments with authority on a dog humping its owner’s leg, and suggests that perhaps the bloodhound would have better chances if he had a little Sherlock Holmes’ hat and a pipe in his mouth.
Harlan Pepper, the bloodhound owner (Guest) is, for some reason, single, which is fitting; bloodhounds, even females, have always made me feel like they are bachelors. A few of the other dogs belong to people who are a couple (or a trio) that appear to be more inbred than their pets.
Think about the peculiarities of Cookie and Gerry Fleck, played by Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy in “Best in Show.” Together, they have a Norwich terrier named Winky. Their relationship, as well as the need for a dog shows how they want to stray away from focusing too much on each other. For instance, Gerry has been described as being born with two left feet, something that’s seemingly both astounding and bothersome at the same time. In another sense, Cookie’s mating habits are well known and the running joke with fellow dog owners is how she hopelessly makes and captures minus by looking at Gerald stunned as she has always done. To add, one phrase that captures the minds of many is wondering why one man at dinner seems to capture all his wife’s attention, and why he knows her more than he ought to.
Parker Posey’s character met her partner (Michael Hitchcock) while they were both visiting Starbucks stores situated directly opposite each other. In talking to each other, it seems that a lot of communication transpires using brand names. ‘I we are so lucky,’ she says, ‘to have been brought up among catalogs.’
Jennifer Coolidge wildly adopts the recently divorced geriatrics husband while not talking “we could not or choose to wait forever and still be at rut not find something to say”. It appears that she fellow enjoys and maybe has a somewhat fulfilling bond with Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch), the bisexual dominatrix poodle trainer they hired. A Shih Tzu loving gay couple Stefan Vanderhoof and Michael McKean, along with Scott Donlon, take pleasure in spending time with their pet experience.
With this film, Guest demonstrates his expertise over the comedy “mockumentary,” a genre he pioneered as a co-writer and actor in “This Is Spinal Tap,” and as a writer, director, and actor in “Waiting For Guffman.” In “Guffman,” Guest’s Levy, Willard, O’Hara, Hitchcock, and Posey all share the stage of the film and like in the first, much of their dialogues appear improvised and spontaneous, especially when conversations take unexpected turns.
Just like “Guffman,” which culminated in the disastrous pageant, “Best in Show” finishes with the dog show competition. This format dials all the proprietors and their narratives at the same interval. While satires do have the tendency to overdo their concepts, the anticipation that comes with the judging section retains the heightened energy, not to mention the aid provided by the dog who leaps onto the judge Buck, and gives him a cozy courtesy of famed liberal Whig super story.
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