Best In Show

Some pets deserve a little more respect than others.

The owners (and handlers) of five show dogs head for the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. A film crew interviews them as they prepare for the trip, arrive at Philly's Taft Hotel, and compete. From Florida come the Flecks: she keeps running into old lovers. A wordless ancient in a wheelchair and his buxom trophy wife who may have a thing for the dog's handler own the two-time defending best in show, a poodle.

From the piney woods of N.C. comes a fella who wants to be a ventriloquist. High-strung DINKs feud loudly in front of their Weimaraner. Two outré gay men from Tribeca round out the profiled owners. The dog show brings out the essence of the humans. Who will be best in show?

Critic Reviews:

• " Hilarious and offbeat, but humor is pretty grownup. " – Nell Minow

• " Willard plays a color commentator at a Philadelphia dog show, whose observations are off-color and belly-grabbing hilarious – the whole film's one big, shaggy guffaw. " – Tom Meek

• " The first 45 minutes are amusing enough, but the movie ascends to another level with the second-half introduction of Fred Willard as commentator Buck Laughlin. " – Matt Brunson