Best in Show

Directed by Christopher Guest, Best in Show follows several figures, including Eugene Levy’s Gerry, Catherine O’Hara’s Cookie, and Parker Posey’s Meg, as they and their dogs prepare for (and compete in) the annual Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Filmmaker Guest delivers a hit-and-miss fake documentary that is, to an increasingly palpable extent, more miss than hit, as the picture’s been saddled with a whole host of unappealing caricatures that are rarely, if ever, as funny as Guest believes them to be – with the laugh-free atmosphere compounded by Guest’s misguided decision to allow his actors to improvise their way through his and Levy’s screenplay (ie most conversations and encounters feel as though they’re being clumsily made up on the spot). And although the movie admittedly does include a scant few highlights, including Fred Willard’s amusing turn as a completely oblivious color commentator, Best in Show‘s lack of plot and momentum ensures that it often feels much, much longer than its 90 minutes – which effectively (and ultimately) cements its place as a particularly misguided and unappealing example of the mockumentary genre.

*1/2 out of ****

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