Who Let the Dogs In?

Best in Show proves “God Loves a Terrier”

Calling on many of the same actors that worked so well for him in the smalltown-theatre mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, director/co-writer Christopher Guest applies the same formula to the world of dog shows in this week’s offering from the Upstate Film Society at the Carmike. And once again, the UFS has helped liven up an otherwise unremarkable cinematic calendar. Best in Show, which had a bigger afternoon audience than an earlier showing of Grinch I’d just come from, is often falling-down funny. Starting with a loose plot about five dogs and their owners headed for a national event in Philadelphia, it initially seems little more than a loose framework to let the improvisationally skilled cast (Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., and Guest himself, sporting the most authentic Southern accent imaginable from a native New Yorker, among them) riff at will. That a genuinely engrossing story would unexpectedly develop is a bonus. B+

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