I just loved Waiting For Guffman. It was a delicious mix
of empathetic portraiture and brutal satire, featuring a handful
of lesser-known but wonderfully talented comic actors, directed
by Christopher Guest (of Spinal Tap fame). In Best of
Show, the whole gang is back to take on the eccentric world
of competitive dog shows.
The plot is pretty straightforward. The film was shot without a script, and the actors were allowed to improvise their scenes. Most of them hit the ball right out of the park.
This film is really about the characters. The Mayflower Dog Show draws a very diverse group of people, who have almost nothing in common, except their love and/or zeal for their pets. (It turns out that most of the dogs are quite striking reflections of their owners.)
There's Gary Fleck, a nerdy salesman (masterfully played by Eugene Levy) and his wife, Cookie (fellow SCTV veteran Catherine O'Hara). Gary literally has two left feet; Cookie has a list of ex-boyfriends that rivals the phone book. Their small Norwitch Terrier's name is Winky. Need I say more?
Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) is a somewhat dim-witted fly-fishing shop owner from North Carolina. He has a bloodhound, of course. Did I mention that he's also a ventriloquist?
Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey and Michael Higgins) are a wonderfully awful high-strung yuppie couple, by far the most miserable of the lot. For threatening to wreak legal havoc upon nearly everyone they bump into, I also bestow on them the "Need To Die" award. It comes as little surprise that their status symbol Wiemaraner, Beatrice has inherited some psychological problems from it's owners.
Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (John Michael Higgins & Michael McKean) are the happiest couple of the bunch. Because they're so well-adjusted, they are highly likable. They're having fun and thus are fun to be around. (I never thought I'd ever like two people who dress little dogs up in costumes, but there you have it.) Their Shih Tzus, Miss Agnes, is a natural extension of their alternative lifestyle.
Sherri Ann Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) is a busty gold digger, married to a frail aging millionaire but romantically linked with the dog handler, Christy (Jane Lynch). I didn't like this couple as much, maybe because they were a little too obsessed with winning, and because their two-time champion dog, Rhapsody in White, is one of those Q-Tip poodles (gag...). They were also the least funny of all the couples... but they still felt strangely realistic.
Buck Laughlin (Frank Willard) provides additional comic relief (as if any more was needed) as an inept low-life TV commentator. I didn't buy this character quite so much, but he did deliver some truly devastating one-liners as he attempted to bluff his way through the Mayflower Dog Show. ("And to think that these dogs are still eaten in some countries...")
Overall, this movie has a similar effect as Waiting for Guffman. While we snicker at each character's oddities, we also come to like them and root for them (except the yuppie couple - their tragedy is our glee). Best of Show doesn't feel quite as "authentic" as it's predecessor, but it's still very entertaining. There's plenty of quality laughs, with a nice, affectionate undercurrent. What more can you ask for in a movie?