Best In Show

After Fred Willard's death last week I had a hankering to see Best In Show, which is my favorite of his performances. He doesn't come into the film until about halfway through, but his clueless, inappropriate Buck Laughlin, the announcer at a dog show, is one of the great comic performances of all time.

Best In Show is one of my favorite comedies of all time. While it may not eclipse This Is Spinal Tap in the Christopher Guest mockumentary ouevre, it's right up there. This one takes a look into the world of show dogs and their owners, and while these people are certainly odd, Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy are always affectionate in their portrayals, never mean.

It's an ensemble, but the main charactera are Levy and his wife, Catherine O'Hara, as a middle-class couple from Florida who have a Norwich terrier named Winky. There's a running gag about O'Hara's promiscuity, as several men they run into have lewd remembrances of her. Even Willard, watching as she parades Winky around the show floor, says "She looks familiar." 

Levy, in a fantastic sight gag, says he has two left feet. The camera then pans down to his shoes, and it's true, he has two left feet, literally. They are a hard luck couple, as their credit card is maxed out so they are put into a utility closet, but they are indomitable and of always good cheer.

The other characters aren't quite as interesting. Next best is Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock as the owners of a Weimeraner, and they are bonkers. Posey's tirade when she can't find the dog's toy, and then tries to buy the same one at a pet store, is comedy gold. Guest adds great little details, such as both of them have orthodontics, and they tried a position from the Kama Sutra called "the Congress of Cows."

Michael McKean and John Michael Higgins play a gay couple with a shih tzu, and since this was twenty years ago the novelty of gay characters may have had more impact than it does today. Higgins really swishes it up, and I found them the least interesting characters as the joke seems to be only that they were gay. Another gay character is played by Jane Lynch, who is the handler for a champion poodle, Butch, owned by Jennifer Coolidge. After Butch wins her group, Lynch and Coolidge are caught on camera in a passionate clinch. Higgins, watching, says "Butch has two mommies."

Guest plays a quiet fellow from North Carolina who has a bloodhound. He doesn't seem that interesting, but quirks keep coming out, such as his habit of naming every kind of nut, and that he is learning "the ancient art of ventriloquism."

But Willard really steals the show, along with Jim Piddock, who plays straight man as the knowledgeable color man. Willard's role was said to be inspired by Joe Garagiola, who used to host the Westminster dog show, and as a former baseball player had no knowledge about dogs. Willard has several terrific one-liners. At one point, out of the blue, he asks Piddock to guess how much he can bench press. Or, "I went to one of those obedience places once... it was all going well until they spilled hot candle wax on my private parts." Or,  "And to think that in some countries these dogs are eaten."

Character actors like Bob Balaban and Ed Begley Jr make memorable cameos. The film was highly improvised, which makes it all the more amazing. I can just imagine Willard tossing off zingers and Piddock trying not to laugh.

I watch this movie with a stupid grin on my face throughout. I question the sense of humor of anyone who doesn't find it funny.