As Good As It Gets

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

And, as that old, familiar saying goes - "Ugly (like beauty) is in the eyes of the beholder." Considering what this documentary's subject was all about (a contest in search of the world's ugliest dog) - I certainly thought that this particular presentation could have been a whole lot better than it (unfortunately) turned out to be. I'm not kidding.Yes. There certainly were some very entertaining moments in "Worst In Show", but, as things moved along, I quickly found that I just couldn't warm up to some of the irksome personalities of a number of the dog-owners who were in my face here for a good part of the time.Generally speaking - "Worst In Show" was a fairly mediocre production, on all counts.If this presentation had been handled more professionally (and not focused on the bickering of certain dog-owners), then, yes, I think "Worst In Show" would have been a helluva lot more enjoyable to watch, in the long run.Anyway - See for yourself. You just might think differently than I do.

Welcome to the dog-eat-dog world (or should I say "dog-owner-eat-dog-owner" world) of jealous, petty, publicity-grabbing pet-owners who smugly enter their ghastly-looking pooches into the "World's Ugliest Dog" contest.For starters - This "Ugliest Dog In The World" documentary lost itself some serious points when it came to the introduction of some of the most irritating and downright asinine dog-owners imaginable.This documentary also lost itself further significant points due to the fact (which I found quite disturbing) that a good number of the dogs presented in this contest weren't dogs who were just plain "dog-ugly" because of a specialized breeding (like the Chinese Crested) - No - These were unfortunate dogs who were deemed "ugly" due to having a very grotesque physical deformity. I kid you not.Like - "Hello!?" - If you ask me - That, from my perspective, rendered a good number of the dog-owners (who were shamelessly highlighted in this decidedly disappointing documentary) as being a truly contemptible bunch. And, so, that, of course, left me with no choice but to reduce my ranking of "Worst in Show" to just a measly 3-star rating. Oh. Yes. Indeed.

Pretty amusing account of The Ugly Dog show competition that has for some reason become Top Dog. Deals with some of the issues raised by the event without getting too heavy. I might have liked this better as an hour cable special, it feels like there is a bit much of everything. Most of all, of course, the one owner who uses these events for bizarre self promotion. There is one in every crowd, as they say. But even the sympathetic owner of the dog who wins the contest near the end we might have enjoyed more without hearing her whole life story. An enjoyable little Doc though, to be sure. Any dog lover will enjoy it. The DVD contains some out takes for those who can't get enough.

The documentary follows the World's Ugliest Dog Contest, an annual contest held in Petaluma, California. Many people in different walks of life come to Petaluma looking to lay claim for the title of "The World's Ugliest Dog'. There is a list of characters like the 2002 winner Rascal, the veteran owned by actor Dane Andrew of Sunnyvale, California. Dane Andrew is borderline someone who wants to attains celebrity status at any cost through his pets. He really wants Rascal to win through self- publicity and promoting by going to celebrity's events, media outlooks and winning chest full of rewards. He is over the top competitor who probably taking the contest too far. Very self-absorbed, he has made an enemy of the owner of the 2009 champion Pabst. A boxer mix owned by Miles Egstad who ended the seven-year reign held by the Chinese Crested breed. While Miles enjoy his 15 minutes of fame, he doesn't take the contest too serious. They are join with other competitors such as Icky, a rookie dog owned by John Adler whom Mohawk match that of the owner. Another is Winston, who bears a scar across his head from Hurricane Katrina. His owner, Ashley, hopes winning the contest will spread the word about rescue dogs. Last is Princess Abby, a chihuahua with a hunched and peculiar walk due to that her back legs are longer than her front (which allows her to have moments of bipedalism), a missing eye, and mismatched ears. Kathleen Francis is the owner of Abby, a widow trying to get over her partner suicide by living through her dog. The movie also tackles the history of the event, by showing us with interviews with the owner of Sam, a blind Chinese Crested dog who voted the world's ugliest dog three times in a row, from 2003 through 2005 that made the event famous and well known. Then there was 2008 World's Ugliest Dog Winner named Gus that controversial win cause uproar in the pet community due to the fact that it was dying from Cancer. Some people felt morality that dogs that are sick shouldn't be the contest, because it prevent the owners to correct unhealthy features cause by disease, and mocks them. The perception of ugliness can be mistaken as mocking as the documentary tackle this issue. It's surprising for this movie to have an very low IMDb count, it should be higher. If anything could be held against the film, it would be the structure, as the competition part end mid part, and the rest of the movie is just profiling another dog and it's owner. The owner should had been integrated earlier to build a more natural progression to the plot and create a more effective climax. Though the tacked-on tale is touching, pretty much all the drama is basically over at that point, so you're just hanging around waiting for it to end. The DVD might cause a problem as there are no audio options or subtitles. Other than that, I can't figure out why it's so low. From the outside view, it might looks like they are making fun of the dogs of their appearance. As it shows in the documentary, these owners really do love their pets. Unlike the Best of Show, there is not discrimination against non- purebreds mutts. Mutts are allowed to participate in it. That's what makes this documentary worth watching. There was much love to the pets by their owners. None of them seems abuse by their caretakers. Every dog has it's day, even the ugly ones.