Best in Show

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Movie
Original title Best in Show
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Christopher Guest
script Christopher Guest,
Eugene Levy
production Gordon Mark ,
Karen Murphy ( Castle Rock Entertainment )
music Jeffrey Vanston
camera Roberto Schaefer
cut Robert Leighton
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
When Guffman comes

Best in Show is a mockumentary from 2000 that accompanies the owners of five dogs on their way to a prestigious dog show . The film depicts the surreal world of such exhibitions in a satirical way. Most of the dialogue was improvised by the actors . Directed by Christopher Guest , who wrote the script with Eugene Levy . Many of the actors featured in the film had starred in Guest's earlier films, such as This Is Spinal Tap , Waiting for Guffman , A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration .

action

The film is designed as a purported documentary that accompanies five dogs and their owners on their way to the fictional Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in Philadelphia , which is modeled after the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show . It begins with the introduction of the individual actors in interviews , accompanies them during their journey and at the exhibition site, and ends again with interviews that ostensibly were made a few months after the exhibition. The individual actors are:

  • Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy and Katherine O'Hara) with their Norwich Terrier Winky. The Flecks are from Florida and are a lower-middle-class couple. During the film they are confronted with money problems again and again, so that they finally have to spend the night in a broom closet at the hotel in Philadelphia. Throughout the film, as a running gag, they continually meet various lovers from Cookies' youth.
  • Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) with their Weimaraner Beatrice. The Swans are a clichéd, neurotic yuppie couple from Chicago who often quarrel for trivial reasons throughout the film. The film begins with a scene in which the Swans take Beatrice to a therapist because the bitch has seen her having sex and was traumatized as a result.
  • Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) and his Bloodhound Hubert. The stereotypical redneck Pepper, whose family has been raising Bloodhounds for generations, is from North Carolina , where he runs a fishing gear shop. He is also an enthusiastic but not very talented ventriloquist .
  • Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge and Patrick Cranshaw) with their poodle dog Rhapsody in White, called Butch. Sherri Ann is a young, attractive, but not very intelligent blonde; her very rich husband Leslie is much older than she and suffers from advanced senile dementia . The Cabots employ dog ​​trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch), who turns out to be Sherri Ann's lover in the course of the film.
  • Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (John Michael Higgins and Michael McKean), a gay couple from New York City , and their two Shih Tzus Miss Agnes and Tyrone. The strongly affected - effeminate Donlan takes on the part of the exhibitor, the inconspicuous Vanderhoof that of the organizer.

The protagonists meet at the end of the exhibition in the final, in which a judge selects the best dog in the exhibition, the Best in Show , from the best dogs of each breed group . The judging will be televised live and presented by reporters Trevor Beckwith (Jim Piddock) and Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard), with Laughlin continuously commenting on the action with inappropriate comments.

Beatrice attacks the judge and is disqualified, the other dogs all make it to the final. Immediately beforehand, Cookie Fleck falls and sprains her knee, so that Gerry has to climb into the show ring - even though he has two left feet due to a birth defect. Winky wins the exhibition anyway and receives the title Best in Show .

A few months after the exhibition, the participants will be interviewed again to see how their lives have changed as a result. Gerry and Cookie Fleck have returned to Florida, where they rose to prominence, and are using their new fame to record an album of songs about dogs. Sherri Ann Cabot and Christy Cummings have become business partners and publish a magazine for lesbian dog owners called American Bitch . Harlan Pepper has fulfilled his childhood dream and has moderately well-attended appearances as a ventriloquist. The Swans have got themselves a pug that they can watch during sex without being traumatized. Stefan and Scott finally produce a calendar together that shows Shih Tzus in scenes from classic Hollywood films.

Reviews

The film was generally received positively and has 94% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes . It has won an American Comedy Award , a British Comedy Award and a Canadian Comedy Award , and is 39th on the list of the 100 funniest films by US television station Bravo-TV .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bravo 100 Funniest Movies