Best in Show is a 2000 improvisational comedy film that follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show. The film focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete. Much of the dialogue was improvised.

Christopher Guest directed; he also co-wrote the script with Eugene Levy. Many in the cast and crew were also involved in the films This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

Plot[link]

Best in Show is presented as a documentary of five dogs and their owners destined to show in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, held in Philadelphia. The documentary jumps between the owners as they prepare to leave for the show, arriving at the hotel, and preparing backstage before their dog takes the show. The owners and their dogs include:

• Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara), with their Norwich Terrier Winky. They are a middle-class couple from Florida who run into monetary problems and are forced to sleep in the hotel's storage room when they finally arrive. Throughout the film, they encounter men that Cookie had slept with during her youth.
• Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock), with their Weimaraner Beatrice. An upper-class, stereotypical yuppie couple from Chicago, they think they are taking great care of Beatrice (although really they are just confusing and upsetting her with their neurotic behavior), going as far as taking her to a therapist after she saw Meg and Hamilton have sex. At the show, the Swans believe that Beatrice will become unnerved without her favorite toy, the "Busy Bee", and frantically search for a replacement for it before the show.
• Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) and his Bloodhound Hubert. Pepper's family has raised a variety of hounds for generations, and Harlan continues the tradition by raising bloodhounds (though he has aspirations of becoming a ventriloquist).
• Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Cranshaw) with their standard poodle Rhapsody in White (a.k.a. Butch), a two-time winner of the show in the past. Sherri Ann is a luscious big-breasted blonde, having the elderly Leslie as her sugar daddy, in a way that is reminiscent of the marriage between Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall II. She is primarily worried about giving Rhapsody a makeover; however, trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) makes sure the dog is ready for the show, while Leslie stays utterly oblivious and apathetic. Over the course of the film, the fake couplehood between Sherri Ann and Leslie crumples while Sherri Ann's romantic involvement with Christy becomes apparent.
• Scott Donlan (John Michael Higgins) and Stefan Vanderhoof (Michael McKean) and their Shih Tzu. A typical campy gay couple, they take great pride in their dog, and are confident that she will win the competition.

The owners and their dogs all arrive in time for the show, which is hosted by dog expert Trevor Beckwith (Jim Piddock), and oblivious "color" commentator Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard). During the first round, Beatrice is disqualified when Hamilton cannot control her, but the other four dogs advance to the final round. Just before the finals, Cookie dislocates her knee and insists that Gerry take over for her. Though the audience is initially awed by seeing Gerry's "two left feet" (the result of a birth defect), ultimately Winky takes Best in Show.

Afterwards, the film explores what each character is doing after the competition. Gerry and Cookie returned home to Florida and were overcome with attention after the victory. They go on to record, in amusingly bad style, songs about terriers but discover to Gerry's frustration that the recording engineer is yet another of Cookie's ex-boyfriends (Steven Porter). Sherri Ann and Christy have entered into a partnership and publish a magazine for lesbian owners of purebred dogs, called American Bitch. Harlan fulfills his dreams and becomes a ventriloquist, entertaining sparse crowds with a honky tonk song and dance number. Stefan and Scott are in the process of designing a calendar featuring Shih Tzu dogs appearing in scenes, with appropriate costume, from famous classic films, such as Gone with the Wind and Casablanca (and McMillan and Wife, for some reason.) Hamilton and Meg Swan seem to have given Beatrice away, allowing them to enjoy a calmer, more loving partnership as well as a new dog that they claim enjoys watching them make love.

Cast[link]

• Christopher Guest as Harlan Pepper
• Eugene Levy as Gerry Fleck
• Catherine O'Hara as Cookie Fleck
• John Michael Higgins as Scott Donlan
• Michael McKean as Stefan Vanderhoof
• Michael Hitchcock as Hamilton Swan
• Parker Posey as Meg Swan
• Jennifer Coolidge as Sherri Ann Cabot
• Jane Lynch as Christy Cummings
• Larry Miller as Max Berman
• Jim Piddock as Trevor Beckwith
• Fred Willard as Buck Laughlin
• Ed Begley, Jr. as Hotel Manager
• Lynda Boyd as Cabot Party Guest
• Teryl Rothery as Philly AM Host
• Patrick Cranshaw as Leslie Ward Cabot
• Will Sasso as Fishin' Hole Guy
• Bob Balaban as Dr. Theodore W. Millbank III
• Don Lake as Graham Chissolm

The dogs[link]

• Can Ch. Arokat's Echobar Take Me Dancing - Beatrice the Weimaraner
• Can Ch. Urchin's Bryllo - Winky the Norwich Terrier
• Ch. Quiet Creek's Stand By Me - Hubert the Bloodhound
• Can Ch. Rapture's Classic - Miss Agnes the Shih Tzu
• Can Ch. Symarun's Red Hot Kisses - Tyrone the Shih Tzu
• Can Ch. Exxel Dezi Duz It With Pizaz - Rhapsody in White the Standard Poodle^[3]

Reception[link]

Best in Show has received high critical praise. As of February 2010^[update], it had a rating of 94% fresh on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (based on 105 reviews).^[4] It won American, British, and Canadian Comedy Awards. The film is number 38 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". In 2012 "Best of Show" won a spot on Yahoo's list of the "100 Funniest Movies to See Before You Die".

The film opened to a weekend gross of $413,436 to thirteen theatres with an average of $31,802 per theater. After opening to a total of 497 theaters, the film ended its run with a domestic total $18,715,392. With a foreign gross of $2,074,164 it brought the total gross revenue to $20,789,556^[5].

See also[link]

• Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Best in Show

• Official website
• Best in Show at the Internet Movie Database
• Best in Show at the TCM Movie Database
• Best in Show at AllRovi
• Best in Show at Box Office Mojo
• Best in Show at Rotten Tomatoes