Week 30 – Best in Show (2000)

• Best in Show
• Released: 10/20/2000
• Starring: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Coolidge, Bob Balaban, Don Lake, Ed Begley, Jr., Fred Willard, Jim Piddock
• Director: Christopher Guest
• IMDB Page

It’s time for another week of 52 Films, 52 Portraits! I’m excited about this week’s blog, because the film was chosen by my very own momma, Alecia!

I covered a bit about her a couple of weeks ago for my dad’s week, but my mom lives in Birmingham, AL with my dad and works for a publishing company for trade magazines, websites, etc. In addition to myself, she has two other kids – that have been previously featured on this blog, and don’t really need any more focus here, because this isn’t about them, geez… – and a hoard of canine companions.

My Momma and I at a rainy Billy Joel concert in Washington, DC last summer!

I had a pretty good idea about my mom’s film preferences going into this week, but I was still eager to hear her thoughts and find out what movie she had chosen. She told me that she considers herself to be a “pretty big” film fan, although she rarely makes it out to the theater anymore. Maybe once or twice a year. Usually now she just watches films on Netflix or other streaming services. I can definitely vouch for this. As long as I can remember, the only times my mom ever went to the theater was if it was to take us to see a movie that we wanted to see. There are a few exceptions, but that has been a pretty steady general rule my whole life.

My mom said that when she was a young girl, she would always go to a summer film festival for kids on Tuesday mornings. The films usually focused on children’s fare such as adventure, fantasy and pirates. She grew up enjoying those and always had a soft spot for musicals, even though they were “out of style” for a long time while she was growing up. She said that she is very happy that they have become more popular again. I remember when I was younger, my mom would introduce me to musicals. We watched the Mary Martin version of Peter Pan over and over again, and shared a love of Grease. She is also generally a fan of mysteries, romantic comedies, superhero films (I have to say, I was a little surprised to see her list this one after all the terrible superhero movies we dragged her to when we were younger), dramas and ridiculous comedies. I would have to add that she is also a huge fan of documentaries, especially in the last few years. Seems like half the time she watches something on Netflix or Hulu, it’s some sort of historical or interesting documentary.

She added that she is not a fan of animated films generally, especially because of how frequently the mother is killed off in the beginning – a trademark she can’t help but associate with Disney. She also hates – as many of us do – what she calls “sad dog movies.” Which, to be honest, I feel like really includes just about any dog movie out there. Actually, just about every dog movie out there except the one featured in this blog! Huh.

My mom told me that when it comes to specific entertainers, she is always a fan of Christopher Guest’s troupe of actors. She loves that they are consistently funny and that they have created such a great working chemistry with each other. She then listed off Francis Ford Coppola, Kristen Wiig, “a lot of other SNL actors,” Judd Apatow, M. Night Shyamalan and Emma Stone. She said she doesn’t care what other people think, she still loves M. Night Shyamalan’s work. That sentiment is similar to the one expressed by my dad in his blog, and I completely agree with it. I’ve also always been a big fan of his.

She said that she almost regrets not having chosen The Godfather, because it’s a movie that she has loved for years and years. She said that she loves the storytelling involved and that it is one of the films that she can just watch over and over again.

In the end, however, she picked the Christopher Guest mockumentary classic Best in Show. She said that it was the first mockumentary that she ever saw (she added that she didn’t see This is Spinal Tap until later) and was instantly hooked to the genre. She thought it was genius. She also loved how real the characters felt. There are so many characters in the film that remind her of real people in her life, and it only makes it funnier. Thanks to this film, she tries to watch every mockumentary that she can, especially ones that Guest is involved in. She noted that this isn’t exactly Schindler’s List. Viewers should be aware that this is a lighter film, but is extremely funny and relatable, and that’s what makes it so great to her. She just loves the characters.

I have to say that I was not surprised at all that my mom chose this film. It came out when I was in middle school, and I feel like we watched it so many times as a family after that. It’s just one of those films that entered our family’s lexicon. Any of us can quote it and know exactly what the other is talking about.

I think that it may also be the first mockumentary that I ever saw, and I also instantly loved the genre. So many things use that method now – both movies and television – but I think that it was a lot less common twenty years ago. It’s just such a great way to make you feel like you are in the real world with these characters, which allows the humor to be so much more subtle and yet so hilarious.

Also, the cast here is just so stacked with amazing talent. I may have recognized a few faces when it was first released (‘Hey, that’s the guy from Laverne and Shirley!’), but I definitely didn’t appreciate the talent and star power of this roster until much later. Like my mom, I definitely see so many of these characters in my day to day life. From relatives to friends to acquaintances, these actors brought these characters to life in such a realistic way.

I’m also pretty impressed with how well they managed to do with the dogs. They were so well behaved!

Okay! That’s it for this week! As always, thank you so much for reading! Comment, follow, etc. below! Let me know what you think! Have you ever seen Best in Show? How about other Christopher Guest movies?

Next week: Top Gun