Best in Show (2000)
Directed by Christopher Guest
The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them.
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What critics compared Best in Show to
The film even borrows the "wacky commentator" schtick from the likes of Dodgeball, Best In Show or Baseketball, and does it really well.
John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks, a pair of cast-iron comic troupers who can't help but be fun to watch, are stranded as a pair of despicable color commentators hurling passive-aggressive insults at the Bellas, a steal from Best in Show that would be obvious even without Higgins right there reminding us that the earlier film exists; they get laughs out of many of their lines (how could they not, those two?), but the film would certainly be stronger without them.
A time-honored sports movie tradition is observed by having announcers provide "witty" play-by-play commentary for the cable network airing the event (they are played by Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, who's channeling Fred Willard from Christopher Guest's Best in Show).
Painfully stating the obvious, the event announcers (John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks, goofing like Best In Show ) point out The Bellas are no match for the fellas of Treble Makers, perennial winners led by the perfectly obnoxious Bumper (Adam DeVine).
It’s a quirky world not unlike, say, the dog show world featured in that terribly funny movie “Best in Show.”
John Michael Higgins (“Best in Show”) and co-producer Elizabeth Banks (“The Hunger Games”) are the acid-tongued commentators at the big competitions.
Not for the serious or staid, What We do in the Shadows is in the vein of Christopher Guest and the mockumentaries A Mighty Wind and Best in Show (OK, you pick your favorite.)
Arterial spatter, aerial “bat fight” and occasional projectile vomiting aside, the vampire comedy “What We Do in the Shadows” is a very civilized mockumentary that takes its cues from Christopher Guest (“Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show”) rather than from Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”).
In recent years, the documentary-styled comedy has been at home on television, so calling this the funniest mockumentary film since Best In Show may not have the kind of value that statement deserves, even if it’s been 14 years.
Things are shaken up at Channel 4 when the station boss (Fred Willard, a riot as a TV commentator in "Best in Show") hires a women reporter, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), who has her sights on becoming the world's first female anchor.
Fred Willard, blustering agreeably as the station manager, might have been a better fit for the lead role — picture a slightly hipper variant on Willard's agreeably asinine dog-show announcer in "Best in Show."
The tale involves a young psychic named River (Summer Glau) who has been abducted by some kind of oppressive political group (the Alliance) for some insidious purposes – I’m actually not too clear on that: the important thing is that the guy who played Parker Posey’s husband in “Best in Show” plays a scientist who is forced to fall on a sword after River is sprung from the compound by her brother Simon (Sean Maher).
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Justin Timberlake is Scott Delacorte, a rich boy who cherishes ideals about teaching and dresses as if he has sprung straight from a 1920s college musical; Britain's Lucy Punch is Amy Squirrel, an enthusiast whose jolly jokes about her own name involve a lot of squeaking and nibbling noises; Phyllis Smith (The Office) plays Lynn, a nervous type who's become expert in extracting nuances from the double take and the long pause; and John Michael Higgins (Best in Show) is cast as the school principal, Wally Snur.
Trinian’s), Phyllis Smith (The Office), John Michael Higgins (Best in Show), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) and Molly Shannon (Year of the Dog) also eke laughs out of the material through broad flamboyance.
The veteran character actor has stolen scenes and split my sides in films like Best in Show and Pitch Perfect .
In the supporting bits, veteran comic actress Coolidge , best known for her hilarious turns in Best in Show and Legally Blonde , is adequate doing the evil stepmother thing but is much better as the neurotic, liposuction-lovin', botox-injectin' freak.
Coolidge â so skilled at parody in Christopher Guestâs Best in Show â has become a parody of herself, or at least a parody of the same dim persona she plays in every film, and A Cinderella Storyâs supporting cast of talented character actors, like Regina King and Paul Rodriguez, is slumming it, plain and simple.
As the mistreated orphan, tween fave Hilary Duff is adequate, while Jennifer Coolidge ("Best in Show") injects the proceedings with a bit of grotesque fun as a botox-dependent evil stepmother.
For a while, the updating of the fairy tale offers a few amusements, including Jennifer Coolidge ("Best in Show") as a plastic surgery-obsessed wicked stepmother.
Cole as Ricky’s father, plus the superb Jane Lynch (“ The 40-Year-Old Virgin ,” “Best in Show”) as Ricky’s mother?
His shiftless, beer-drinkin', pot-smokin', ramblin' dad Reese Bobby ( Gary Cole -- as good as he was in " Office Space ") is, of course, mostly off cruisin' down the highway, so he's raised by his formerly wild-gal mom, Lucy (the magnificent Jane Lynch , from " The 40-Year-Old Virgin " and "Best in Show").
Casting is key, with veteran improv actors like Sacha Baron Cohen (“Da Ali G Show,” “Borat”), Gary Cole (“Office Space,” “Dodgeball”), and Jane Lynch (“Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind”) riffing right alongside Oscar nominees like John C. Reilly (“Chicago”) and Amy Adams (“Junebug”).
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Razzle Dazzle, a mockumentary set in the world of Australia’s apparently thriving world of dance schools, in effect Best in Show fused with Strictly Ballroom with a dash of Little Miss Sunshine, isn’t quite up there in the Christopher Guest league but has some hilarious moments, almost all of them courtesy of Ben Miller as a gauche teacher specialising in politically themed dance spectaculars.
With the incomparable John Michael Higgins reprising his sardonic, scatterbrained event commentator from Best In Show, the whole movie goes at a gallop.