Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Best in Show

EMAILPRINTWarner Bros.

Best in Show reviews
78
7.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Christopher Guest
Eugene Levy

Directed by: Christopher Guest

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 27, 2000
DVD: May 15, 2001

Running Time: 90 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for language and sex-related material.

Starring Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Eugene Levy, Jim Piddock, Catherine O'Hara, and Fred Willard

Centered at the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, the film follows several bizarre dog owners and their sometimes neurotic pets.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

No one does this genre better than actor-writer-director Christopher Guest.

Read Full Review >
90

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Waggish fun like this is too good to miss.

90

Variety Eddie Cockrell

A barkingly funny new "mockumentary" that does for those canine pageants what the helmer's 1996 "Waiting for Guffman" did for smalltown theatrics.

Read Full Review >
90

The New York Times Stephen Holden

This comic jigsaw puzzle is crammed with deliriously funny little bits.

Read Full Review >
90

Slate David Edelstein

Best in Show has an uproarious wild card in Fred Willard, who plays a hack commentator convinced that he's the most amusing fellow on television

Read Full Review >
90

Newsweek David Ansen

It's as smart, quiveringly alert and fleet of foot as a purebred pointer on the scent of fresh game.

90

TNT RoughCut Andy Klein

I found myself roaring at the grotesque way some of the characters talk to their pets, pausing only briefly when I realized that I do precisely the same thing.

88

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

If this new film doesn't quite go to 11, it's a healthy 8½.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Post Lou Lumenick

I was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down my cheeks.

88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Wickedly funny.

Read Full Review >
88

USA Today Mike Clark

This giggle does for dog shows what Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" (in which Guest plays Nigel Tufnel) did for heavy metal.

Read Full Review >
83

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

You will be surprised by the film's poignancy when the winner is announced. You may even get choked up. You will care that much.

80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Has both bark and bite. Its low-key but sharp and amusing sense of humor is a nice fit with the frenetic world of competitive dog shows.

Read Full Review >
80

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

In general, the dogs-as-mirrors theme--the crazy things people do with and in relation to their pets--is what keeps this going, and the laughs are sporadic but genuine.

Read Full Review >
80

TV Guide Stephen Miller

Blue-ribbon acting from both the four- and two-legged performers.

Read Full Review >
80

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Guest revels in the eccentricities of dog lovers everywhere, but there's kindness at his core. He's a mensch among mutts.

Read Full Review >
80

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

While the movie is frequently sharp and funny and weirdly relatable, the material feels too much like reality.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Sublimely ridiculous film.

Read Full Review >
78

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

It's got enough hilarious moments that, all in all, the film's bite is as toothsome as its bark.

75

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Reaches the highest comic heights when the show itself starts.

75

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

In terms of dramatic tension, Best in Show is more compelling than a lot of formulaic sports movies.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Gets blue-ribbon results from its thoroughbred cast of improvisational comics.

75

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

A droll piece of deadpan played with mostly unerring pitch by a talented cast.

75

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

When it's funny, Best is hilarious.

Read Full Review >
70

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Guest begins -- but doesn't end -- with caricatures, then peels away at our preconceptions until we see the heart and soul beneath.

Read Full Review >
70

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Just isn't as fresh, focused or uniformly funny as "Waiting for Guffman."

Read Full Review >
70

Washington Post Desson Thomson

More amiable than hysterical.

Read Full Review >
70

Film.com Robert Horton

Tight and quick-moving, the film scores its points and gets on with it.

Read Full Review >
67

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

You giggle every so often, but you never give yourself over to the characters.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Jay Carr

He's (Willard) a one-man storm of escalating inanity, and he's hilarious.

63

Miami Herald Sara Wildberger

Doggone funny.

63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

For sheer laughs, Willard and Piddock take the trophy.

60

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Best in Show succeeds only insofar as you're willing to laugh at a bunch of sad freaks.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Katherine gave it an8:
Yes I gave it an 8. While there were parts that made me laugh alot, I just could not really get into it. It's a great movie though.

Lucy K gave it a10:
This 'mockumentary' does an exellent job of what it sets out to do: make people laugh, and make those same people want to attend a dog show.

Eliot gave it a10:
Best. Movie. Ever.

Michael M. gave it a 10:
Once again Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy bring us a hit comedy that surprisingly surpasses the marvelous independent feature 'Waiting For Guffman'. This film is not only the best mockumentary ever made, but most likely the best comedy ever made, from two very important aspects = 1) It makes you laugh repeatedly & 2) It has a wonderful idea that no film writer besides Guest and Levy has yet to explore as a comedy. They both do a wonderful job writing the screenplay, and Guest does an excellent job directing. The acting is pure excellence with the comedy talents of such actors as Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Fred Willard, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Lynch. This is such an excellent film that cannot be praised enough. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a hilarious and well made film about pretentious dog owners and their dogs. (2/21/03)

Pat C. gave it a 7:
It's an inside joke. Really helps if you know someone who's obsessed with animals. (Those of you who are will take it as seriously as Shakespearian tragedy.) Unintentionally the most authentic of the mockumentaries.

Flambodian Wikastaka gave it a 10:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! A funy, fresh and great movie.

And here we have a Mulroneycakehound. Note how glossy the coat is. gave it a 9:
The genius of this film is the details. Those people who gave it red (or even yellow) scores must have the attention span of a goldfish. Which is dead. And was particularly stupid when it was alive. Most of the jokes grow from the dialogue so naturally that you won't notice they're there unless you look (Except for the Announcer Guy and his wonderfully stoical British sidekick, who are hillarious on as many levels as you like). The thing is, when we get to the prize-giving, you - alright, I - actually CARED who was going to win, so well fleshed-out were the characters. Even with everything Ebert says in the first paragraph of his review in mind, I still like a lot of the sods. Cuh. What a great movie.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use