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Best in Show is an excellently written, superbly underplayed docu-spoof.
But it also so much more.
At a time when comedy has run the gamut of genres and seemingly exhausted every avenue, Best in Show provides a
refreshing change. Standing pure and simple in juxtaposition to it's few functioning contemporaries:
gross out, the pungent mediocrity of the romantic vein and the nymphomaniacal self-indulgence of the
Adam Sandler, Jim Carey & Mike Myers, it is a genuinely very very funny film.
The main difference is that Best is not a star vehicle but rather an ensemble piece. It features the creme
de la creme of Hollywood star dressing (and Parker Posey), the seasoned professionals frequently found playing up to
A-list have beens like Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Robin Williams. Cineastes will spot familiar faces from the
some of the funniest films of the last twenty years (Clue, Club Paradise & Spinal Tap immediately spring to mind).
And it is with Spinal Tap that the film's humour firmly resides. Not surprising as it was (co-)written and
directed by Christopher Guest of Tap fame. Two decades on and the humour remains intact, even resonant.
Let's face it, it'd have to be to convince some penny-pinching, paranoid Hollywood exec to make a multi-million
dollar film about a dog show. Rather than rely on set pieces or slapstick, the humour
is firmly sewn into the lining of the film. The funniest punchlines are soon forgotten as it manages
that rare thing in a modern comedy - to be consistently funny throughout.
All this despite the teenage kids sitting across from me talking, giggling and belching throughout
the performance.
Woof.
RATING: (c)Limer 2001
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Best In Show (Cinema: June 2001)
