Best in Show
I didn’t love “Best in Show” after I watched it in 2000, but I was definitely more tuned in to what Christopher Guest threw down as a comedy director than I was after “Waiting for Guffman.” By the time “A Mighty Wind” came out, I was a fan for life. “Best in Show” probably holds up the best of those three films, and it’s because we’re seeing something genuine and heartfelt come from the characters, and that makes the comedy even funnier. “A Might Wind” is next on that front; the rest (including “For Your Consideration” and “Mascots”), it’s all about the comedy. When this one lands the laughs, however, you better be ready to laugh your ass off.
The announcement of Fred Willard’s passing is what led me to finally revisit “Best in Show”- this is his most famous role. He plays Buck Laughlin, the color commentator for the Mayflower Dog Show which all of these characters are descending upon. I don’t know if the Westminster Dog Show has a color commentator, but I would imagine he would at least know something about dog breeds and dog shows. Buck is clueless, and his weird, tasteless asides are why the character works. Sometimes, it just takes one reaction shot of Jim Piddock’s Trevor Beckwith to make us crack up, especially as Buck’s comments get more and more inappropriate. Willard understands the prime directive of comedy (as do all of Guest’s actors)- don’t let them see you’re in on the joke. Don’t telegraph the laughs- make sure you sell them honestly. Few performances are so note perfect in that as Willard’s is here; he should have won an Oscar for this.
It’s a good long while into “Best of Show” before Buck Laughlin makes his introduction, but chances are, you’ll be hooked in by the time he arrives. The characters whose dogs are going to participate in the show are a wide assortment of Americana tropes circa 2000. We start with yuppie couple Meg (Parker Posey) and Hamilton Swan (Michael Hitchcock), whom are in therapy, and dressed about like you would expect for the character type. They’re relationship is in trouble, and they think it’s because of their greyhound, Beatrice, whose been uncomfortable and not herself since she saw them having sex. Along the way, we see the characters have missteps and projections of their own anxieties on Beatrice, and their fate by the time the dog show comes up makes all the sense in the world. This is Guest and Eugene Levy’s trick throughout the screenplay they wrote- giving the actors a chance to shine while also making sure we know that the humans are projecting themselves, their emotions, on to their pets. This is why “Best in Show” works as well as it does- the animals are afforded respect, and are their as props for the absurd humans who put their personalities into the way the animals behave.
There are jokes upon jokes upon jokes that play to craziness, like Levy’s Gerry Fleck and his two left feet; Cookie Fleck’s (Catherine O’Hara) always-present promiscuity; Harland Pepper’s (Guest) straight southern personality; and Sherri Ann Cabot’s (Jennifer Coolidge) ridiculous cluelessness. The heart is what we’re left with, though; yes, John Michael Higgins relishes how over-the-top he can play Scott’s homosexuality, but the relationship he has with Michael McKean’s Stefan is one of the most lovingly honest pairings in any Guest film. Jane Lynch nails the arrogant affection her dog trainer has for both the dog, Rhapsody in White, and Sherri Ann. Gerry is constantly embarrassed by Cookie’s former lovers, but they are filled with love for one another that resonates to their terrior, Winky. In the end, though, what we come back to is Willard. He is a force of nature that turns the sublime charm of “Best in Show” into a crazy comedy classic.
