Best in Show

viewed November 14, 2000 at Symphony Space  Full Details

Best in Show, a satirical mockumentary about the people who groom their dogs to compete in shows, is outrageously funny for the first half hour, then gradually peters out to become merely tolerable. The problem is that it keeps hitting the same satirical note with hardly any variation; it's like sitting through a concerto played with only one key on the piano struck over and over. This is due largely to characters that lack dimension and a lot of running jokes that are pounded into the ground, such as the couple who repeatedly run into men who have slept with the wife. When we finally get to the dog show, its weirdness manages to sustain our interest because, unlike the rest of the satire, doesn't seem exaggerated in the least. The performances in the film are broad, and funny to various extents (I liked the gay couple the best, because their Chelsea boy idiosyncracies seemed authentic, and because they were the least annoying -- conversely, the yuppie couple wore out their welcome after their first scene). All in all, the film is entertaining but doesn't really have anything to say about dogs; for a far funnier and more profound take on people's relationship with their dogs, I highly recommend Errol Morris' documentary Gates of Heaven, which follows the efforts of citizens as they try to save a pet cemetary from being paved over into a shopping mall.

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