Best In Show

The first time I saw this years ago was a great experience. I wish I could say it was repeated. Only SOME of it is great. I'll tell you why I probably liked it more the first time.

The truth is the first half of the film is outright awful. But once Fred Willard as Buck Laughlin appears you forgot that fact entirely. I had such pleasant memories because of Fred Willard's role of lifetime. But the truth is the preparation for the dog show (and sadly the epilogue) mostly sucks. It's basically a showcase for nothing but pathetic and broken people. I never liked either Gerry or Harland before, but those guys are even bigger creeps and losers than I remember. Only perhaps Stefan and Scott have a relatively healthy relationship.

This film not only made me love Fred Willard back in the day. It made me loathe Parker Posey. In every role I've seen her in since I picture Meg screaming in her ugly adult braces. Her and Hamilton's failures as dog owners are nothing compared to their failures as human beings. Really the end moral for them is that their dog Beatrice was toxic, and had a negative energy? In reality, Beatrice was just mirroring her disgusting owners.

Best Buck line remains "How much do you think I could bench-press?" I don't know if Willard ad-libbed that or not, but it's magnificent. Still. They should have carved it on Willard's grave.

The whole thing with Cookie and her ex-boyfriends wasn't merely unfunny. I found it sort of cruel to not just Gerry, but her character too. I don't like the fact that Cookie's most notable comedic facet is that she's a skank. And I dislike that more in 2022 than I did when I first saw this.

I am unsure of what to make of Sherri Ann and Christy hooking up. My favorite part of it was Stefan and Scott's reaction to seeing it on television, but despite it being somewhat passionate in the moment, I feel like in the Epilogue Sherri feels about as passionate towards Christy as the old dude she was gold-digging. "Likewise I'm sure," is funny, but said entirely without conviction.

Take note kids: Jane Lynch did not always play mean girls. I thought Christy saying not winning was disturbing was plenty obnoxious (as was her bringing up her mother's suicide as an afterthought) but Lynch is basically the sexy lesbian in the film, and not the mean-spirit shrew she is on Glee and Weakest Link. That wasn't always her shtick, and Glee got her typecast, which I think is a shame.

This was a great dog show hosted by Fred Willard in between long ass scenes of depressed and depressing people. I have to knock off a star and half from my final grade because my memory played some tricks on me. Buck is NOT the entire film. It would get five stars if he was. ***1 removed link