Best in Show ( USA 2000, 90 min, dir: Christopher Guest, cast: Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Bob Balaban, Christopher Guest, Ed Begley, jr.)

Christopher Guest once appeared in my office pitching Spinal Tap. I turned him down. If I had said yes would my life be different? Well, at least I’d have bragging rights. Truth be told, his movies don’t pitch well because there is never a story. Instead there are great inventive bits strung on the backs of marvelous character types/comedians.

Note there is a difference (at least to me) between dramatic characters and character types. Character types are blank slates to be sketched in by very talented comedians combining scripted situations, brilliant improv and precise direction.Did Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO series) learn from Chris Guest or what?

Chris always chooses the situation that offers a full plate of absurdity. A rock band on the road, a small town talent show, a dog show, a folk singer reunion.Did you ever recognize Eugene Levy or Michael McKean or Bob Balaban before they became Chris Guest players? Probably not, because they were treated by others as actors, not as creative phosphorous.

This is very different from Sasha Baron Cohen’s (and Larry Charles) view of improv; which takes poor unsuspecting schnooks and makes them the victims of their comedy. That’s like mowing down the Indians in an old Western with a machine gun.Best of Show is really first class stuff. Not a stall, not a repetition, not an ego riff. Christopher Guest doesn’t allow it and his films are excellent for that reason.  If you don’t believe me, see Borat and then see Best in Show. Then you’ll understand ha ha sloppiness versus really on-the-mark funny.