Best in Show (2000)
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Five owners and their dogs navigate the eccentricities of a prestigious dog show in Philadelphia.
The story
The film follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show as they travel to and compete at the show. The participants include a middle-class couple from Florida, a stereotypical yuppie couple from a Chicago suburb, an affable Southern owner of a fishing goods store, a socially inept trophy wife with her taskmaster trainer, and a campy gay couple. As they travel to the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in Philadelphia, the diverse group of owners, trainers, and handlers navigate their unique relationships and preparations for the competition.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Five dogs and their owners, trainers, and handlers travel to Philadelphia to compete in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Gerry and Cookie Fleck, a couple from Florida, travel with their Norwich Terrier Winky; they are forced to sleep in a storage room due to a forgotten credit card bill. Meg and Hamilton Swan, a yuppie couple, travel with their weimaraner Beatrice, who is distressed by their over-attentiveness. Harlan Pepper, a Southern man, travels with his bloodhound Hubert. Sherri Ann Cabot, a trophy wife, is paired with her trainer Christy Cummings to show her Standard Poodle, Rhapsody in White. Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof, a gay couple, travel with their Shih Tzu, Miss Agnes. During the competition, Beatrice is disqualified for aggression, and Cookie dislocates her knee, leading Gerry to take over for her. Despite his physical limitations, Gerry and Winky win Best in Show. Following the competition, the characters' lives diverge: the Flecks find brief fame; Christy and Sherri Ann begin a public relationship; Harlan fulfills his dream of being a ventriloquist; and the Swans find happiness with a new dog, Kipper.
- First release year
- 2000
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Christopher Guest
- Writers
- Christopher Guest · writer; Eugene Levy · writer
- Cast and characters
- Jennifer Coolidge · Sherri Ann Cabot; Christopher Guest · Harlan Pepper; John Michael Higgins · Scott Donlan; Michael Hitchcock · Hamilton Swan; Eugene Levy · Gerry Fleck; Jane Lynch · Christy Cummings; Michael McKean · Stefan Vanderhoof; Catherine O'Hara · Cookie Fleck
- Genres
- mockumentary; comedy
- Themes
- Competition; Identity; Relationships
- Tone and mood
- Comedy; Mockumentary
- Setting
- Philadelphia during a dog show.
- Premise and plot tags
- Dog Show; Improvised Comedy
- Content notes
- LGBTQ-related
- Reception
- Best in Show received critical acclaim, with a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 78 on Metacritic. It won several awards and was ranked highly in various 'best of' lists for comedy and 21st-century cinema.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 93% · review count: 118; Metacritic · score: 78 · scale: 100 · review count: 33
- Awards and nominations
- Comedy Award · American · Win; Comedy Award · British · Win; Comedy Award · Canadian · Win
- Production trivia
- Much of the dialogue was improvised.; The film was the inspiration for the broadcast of the National Dog Show.; The film was shot in Vancouver and Los Angeles.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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