American Bitches (#22: Best in Show)

#22: Best in Show

I mean, if there was nothing else worthwhile in this movie, it would still be worth owning for that scene alone, right? Jennifer Coolidge basically plays the same character in everything, but she's never been better.

Fortunately for us, Dear Readers, there's plenty more to enjoy in Best in Show than just that. Helmed by Mr. Jamie Lee Curtis himself, Baron Christopher Guest (Yes! Dude's a Baron! I had no idea! Thanks Interwebz!), Best in Show is a largely improvised comedy about the world of competitive dog-showing. Competing in the Mayflower Dog Show are: Coolidge, and her trainer/friend with benefits played by Jane Lynch (laying the foundation for her future Glee fame); 

Michael Hitchcock and Parker Posey as the braces-laden couple from yuppie hell; 

Guest as a nut-and-ventriloquism-loving bloodhound owner; 

the well-known-in-the-biblical-sense Catherine O'Hara and the two-left-footed Eugene Levy; 

and Guest's Spinal Tap castmate, Michael McKean, as the better half of John Michael Higgins intentionally over the top shih tzu owner.

As you know, if you've seen any of these people in anything, they are hilarious.

But best of all is Fred Willard, who takes Bob Uecker's Major League schtick to a whole new level, as the hopelessly clueless dog show commentator:

Nobody tells bad jokes as well as Fred Willard. Although, admittedly, I couldn't help but think of his recent (ahem) sticky situation when his commentary ran a little on the blue side. Still, the man is brilliant. His commitment to absolute boorishness is amazing.

And that's the thing. This movie proves the old adage that comedy is just tragedy with timing. This friggin' dog show (of all things) is hilarious to us because it means so friggin' much to the characters on screen. These people are living and dying by their dog's ribbon placement. Their whole self-worth is wrapped up in whether Beatrice has her busy bee. If it wasn't, we just wouldn't care enough to laugh. But we do. Man, I could talk or not talk about this movie forever and still find things to not talk about.

Final Verdict: KEEPER!

Next Up: BIG FISH