3 out of 10
 

Increasingly, famous Hollywood stars, bored with their own success, take to directing second-rate movies. "Best in Show" represents the next step in this process: a third rate actor making a fourth rate film.

Christopher Guest, a semi-unknown, presents a "comedy" based entirely on a one joke premises, that itself is unsound: dog woners are weird people - but are they really any more weird than the rest or America? Indeed, the all-too-realistic characters make the early part of this film resemble too closely a real documentary, yet after a banal start, it`s downhill all the way.

"Drop Dead Gorgeous" succeeded in this style of "mockumentary" by slowly stretching out believability without ever actually breaking credibility,using a plot of finely crafted irony. "Best in Show", however, achieves none of this. Floundering around with what to do with the lame assortment of characters that he’s created, Guest throws in a handful of ridiculous scenes designed to get a few cheap laughs ....which they don’t.