Best in Show

Following up Waiting for Guffman is no easy task, and that Best in Show doesn’t quite measure up isn’t damning, just disappointing. Like Guffman, Best in Show was devised by directed Christopher Guest, and improvised from a basic outline by its cast, which in this case includes Guest, Michael McKean, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban and Fred Willard. Like the small-town actors in Guffman or the members of Spinal Tap, Best in Show’s characters are maniacal obsessives, dog-show fanatics who’ve lost all sense of perspective. A couple’s marriage nearly disintegrates over the loss of a treasured chew toy, while a blindingly offensive TV commentator (Willard) thinks he’s the world’s preeminent expert. The lack of perspective is what’s funny, of course — if you could explain to Nigel Tufnel why you could just make 10 louder, the movie would evaporate — but in this case, the perspective is skewed. Best in Show doesn’t have the universality of Guffman or Tap; even if you are or know dog fanciers, the characters’ passions don’t extend beyond their context. Best in Show is funny, but that’s all it is.

—Sam Adams

(See Sam Adams’ interview with the cast.)