'Best in Show' Ranked 'Best Comedy of the 21st Century' - And It's Still Hilarious

Comedy is obviously subjective; what makes one person laugh may not have the same effect on another. However, there are some movies whose enduring legacies and expansive audiences make them difficult to reject as classics of the genre. Best in Show is one of those movies.

Ranked by Rolling Stone as the "best comedy of the 21st Century", Best in Show was a very different kind of comedy movie than most audiences were used to-but that's exactly why it was so successful.

Directed by Christopher Guest and co-written by Eugene Levy, Best in Show follows five dogs and their eccentric owners en route to the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, where they all want to prove themselves as the... best in the show.

Guest is best known for writing This is Spinal Tap, which is widely credited as one of the greatest-and most influential-mockumentary films ever made. Best in Show borrows a lot from its predecessor: quirky characters, hilarious fourth-wall breaks, and a lingering sense of chaos that gives the entire film a lively, unpredictable energy.

In fact, Rolling Stone claims that Best in Show is "directly descended" from This is Spinal Tap, noting how Guest manages to take a generally silly subgenre of comedy and transform it into something "sublime", with the caricaturish characters bringing the story to life in a way that feels both wholly unbelievable and somehow real.

Best in Show was a huge success, earning favorable reviews from critics and doubling its budget at the box office. The film currently boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, showing how its cultural impact has endured despite the comedy genre's ever-shifting demands and mercurial sense of humor.

Much of Best in Show's enduring popularity comes from the fact that Guest was willing to bring some of his generation's most notorious comedy talents together and allow them to improvise many of their scenes, which keeps the story feeling fresh and unexpected.

With generational talents like Eugene Levy, Jennifer Coolidge, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, and Jane Lynch rounding out the cast, it's no surprise that Best in Show received the strong acclaim that it did. The film also had a tangible real-world impact, serving as the inspiration for the National Dog Show's annual broadcast, which still happens every Thanksgiving.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 27, 2026 at 7:49 AM.