Best in Show
Short description
Best in Show follows a group of dog owners from across the United States as they travel to Philadelphia for the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, each convinced their animal deserves the top prize. Among them are Gerry and Cookie Fleck, a modest couple from Pine Nut, North Carolina, who bring their Norwich terrier; Harlan Pepper, a fishing tackle shop owner with a bloodhound; a pair of lawyers fussing over their anxious Weimaraner; and a wealthy woman and her handler devoted to a tiny Shih Tzu. A hapless television commentator attempts to narrate the proceedings as the contestants and their pets converge on the competition.
Christopher Guest directed the film and wrote it with Eugene Levy, and it was produced by Karen Murphy for Castle Rock Entertainment. It sits between Almost Heroes and A Mighty Wind in Guest's filmography, his fourth directed feature. Much of the cast worked in the same loose, improvisational style Guest and Levy favor: Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Guest himself, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock and Levy appear among 52 credited performers, supported by 41 credited crew members. The film runs 91 minutes.
Best in Show was released in September 2000. On IMDb it holds 7.4 out of 10 from more than 65,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9 from around 700 votes. A critics' rating of 7.5 out of 10 from 116 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Jennifer Coolidge (who played Sherry Ann Cabot) based her character on memories of a woman whose children she babysat for when she had first moved to Los Angeles.
- Almost all of the judges were played by actual judges or professional cynologists. In addition to this, the latter served as consultants and technical advisors to the actors who worked directly with the dogs.
- All the scenes featuring many dogs in the frame went off without a hitch. Unplanned barking occurred only once in the entire movie.
- Over 60 hours of footage were shot.
- According to Christopher Guest, long before work began on the film, the phrase "catalog lovers" came to mind. In the movie, this phrase was embodied in the characters played by Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock.
- All the major dog shows denied the filmmakers' request to shoot a movie about them on their premises, so the dog show in the film had to be invented.
- According to Ben Mankiewicz, one of the dogs involved in the show had to be replaced at the last moment. The poodle's owner left the project upon learning that her pet was not destined to win.
- Director, screenwriter, and actor Christopher Guest specifically told Fred LaFlyte not to dig into the backgrounds of the participating dogs. Jim Pidcock, on the other hand, had to research such information to avoid appearing like a complete amateur. According to Guest, some viewers were surprised to learn that Pidcock is not actually a dog show judge.
- Parker Posey wore real braces for her role as Meg.
- Much of the film was the result of improvisation. The schematic plot outline was only 16 pages long.
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