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Best In Show - Page 2

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Who would say such things? Certainly not someone who is normal.

Of course "Best In Show" is not normal. And therein is the formula for success. Normality is dull and boring. So take it to the extreme and end up rolling around on the floor, laughing so hard you cry.

Now the owner of the dog in question is Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest). He is single and, in his own way, as off as Buck.

Then there is Gerry (Eugene Levy) and Cookie (Catherine O'Hara) Fleck of Florida, who own a Norwich terrier named Winky. Gerry is even stranger than Harlan. He was born with two left feet--literally. His wife is obviously put off by this, so she does whatever she can to end up in the arms of one of the other dog owners whenever and however. (One of the jokes that runs throughout the movie is that the men in the dog show seem to know Gerry's wife better than he does.)

Strange. Bizarre. Funny.

Which brings me back to Meg Swan, who meets her mate (Michael Hitchcock), when they are in Starbucks. (There is one on either side of the street.) They go to demonstrate the mindset and profile of dog breeders. At least here. Their conversations are filled with references to retail products and self-indulgent materialism that supposedly goes to assist their respective pooches.

There are others in "Best In Show". All of which are equally demented and odd: Sherri Ann Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge), who resonates of Anna Nicole Smith and her late husband; Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch), the dominatrix, who has been hired to train Cabot's poodle; Stefan Vanderhoof (Michael McKean) and Scott Donlon (John Michael Higgins), a severly gay couple whose Shih Tzus are their pride and joy.

Since "This Is Spinal Tap" Christopher Guest has been developing the genre he helped co-create: The mock-u-mentary. Each time he explores this genre he pushes the comedy envelope a little further. And each time he succeeds. Much of his success comes from using the same concept over and over again, as well as many of the same actors. (In "Waiting for Guffman", as here, he used Levy, Willard, O'Hara, Hitchchock, and Posey. ) Because of this, he can take the familiar and make it, well, funny.

Just plain funny.

And in today's world to achieve that is to achieve genius.

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