Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Waste of time

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This movie is incredibly hilarious, the eccentric people and their dogs competing for the best in show is a great example of intelligent humor. Each of the dog owners and their dogs offered a unique story, and presented an insight into the psychological idiosyncrasies of pet ownership, and competition. And the different stories drew me in and made me curious to learn who would win.

It's another Christopher Guest mockumentary and with a cast full of certified comic geniuses it's hard to see how Guest could go wrong. Look at who Guest has at his disposal: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Fred Willard. Is that enough? No? OK, let's toss in Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch and Ed Begley, Jr. And of course there's also Guest himself as a key part of the ensemble. These are hilariously funny people. Which makes the fact that this is not a hilariously funny movie a little puzzling. Best in Show is funny but not outrageously so. A funny idea, certainly a funny cast, but not a consistently funny movie. There are a few really funny moments. But the movie ends up producing more wry smiles than big laughs. It leaves you wanting more.The movie takes place in the rather bizarre dog show world. We focus on five dogs, and their inevitably strange owners, as they make the trek to and ultimately compete in the big dog show in Philadelphia. There's a guy who literally has two left feet and whose wife apparently has slept with every man on the planet. There's a campy gay couple and a neurotic yuppie couple. A trophy wife, married to an oblivious elderly man, and her lesbian dog handler. And an aspiring ventriloquist. All in all a weird bunch. At times perhaps a little too weird for the movie's good. A lot of strange things happen to these strange people. Some of these things are funny but there are a bunch of gags and jokes which fall flat. The movie perks up a bit when we finally get to the dog show itself. That is thanks largely to the presence of Willard who plays perhaps the world's worst television color commentator. He's clearly the funniest thing this movie has going for it. All the other performers do reasonably well but there are times where things just seem a bit off. Maybe the story doesn't quite work, maybe the characters aren't really developed properly. With all these great comic stars you expect hilarity and you don't really get that. The stars do the best they can with the material but you feel that the material let them down a bit. They all have their moments. Posey in particular does really well. And even in a film chock-full of performers with such notable reputations there's room for some lesser-known actors, such as Michael Hitchcock and John Michael Higgins, to turn in good work as well. There's just the sense that director Guest didn't quite pull it all together. This is a movie with such a great cast. That cast could have been put to a little bit better use. Best in Show had such great promise. But just as only one dog can win the trophy not every film is destined for greatness. This film falls a little bit short.

The mockumentary form by Christopher Guest: it's something I'm quite fond of - and I've seen a few. This is the second time I've seen 'Best in Show', and this easy going, but filled to the brim with funny little details semi-roadmovie is well worth a watch.Lots of dialogue, lots of tricky relationships and individuals that are put under the looking glass, and with the clever writing of Guest, they all come up a little or more off, but that's the whole point of it.Well played by Guest himself (I really thought he must have gone on doing 'The Cleveland Show' after that bit in the woods) and many of the mock-regulars, such as Levy, O'Hara (in 'For Your Consideration' she does a great 'botox', here she wags her leg like no other), Posey, Willard (an imprudent commentator once again) and Coolidge.Good fun was had by all. 7 out of 10.

Contestants bring their pets to compete in a national dog show in Philadelphia. This mock documentary gets off to a slow start, as the early scenes are not particularly funny and it feels like a real documentary rather than a spoof. However, the establishment of a documentary tone is actually a setup for laughs that come later in the film. Guest shows that he learned a few things about making mocumentaries from his starring role in "This is Spinal Tap." While this is not as funny as that Rob Reiner film, it is a lot of fun. The cast is composed of a host of familiar faces and they all deliver deadpan performances. Willard is especially funny.