Ariana Grande names her favourite movie of all time: “So strange”
When she’s not defying gravity or holding space with her Wicked co-star, Ariana Grande is a sucker for comedy. That might seem out of character for a superstar who has earned millions of fans around the world for her pop music, but if you look a little further back in her career, everything falls into place.
Grande started off on Broadway, as one does, at the tender age of 15, but she gained celebrity status as a star on the Nickelodeon Channel. Say what you will about the shows in this realm of the television world, but there is no denying that success there favours those with comic timing.
Grande has it, just like she has perfect pitch and an uncanny ability to turn a simple press junket into an internet-breaking meme-storm. In recent years, those comic chops have become increasingly apparent as she’s taken on roles in the Wicked movies, Saturday Night Live, and one of the Meet the Fockers sequels.
So it should come as no surprise that her favourite movie of all time is a comedy. What is more surprising, though, is which comedy. You might think that a person with roots in Nickelodeon, an undying love for musicals, and an affiliation with the Fockers would choose something broad and sentimental, like Father of the Bride, or campy, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The answer is neither. The film she has seen countless times and loves above all others is a Christopher Guest improv classic.
In an interview with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast, Grande explained, “My favourite movie was Best in Show from a really young age. Which is so strange to be a child and to love that.” It’s hard to argue with that. Best in Show is as dry as dry can be, a flavour of humour that kids rarely understand or appreciate. Then, there’s the fact that it focuses on the hyper-specific subculture of competitive dog shows.
Featuring a who’s-who of improv comedy legends, from Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara to Jennifer Coolidge and Michael McKean, it’s a mockumentary that follows a group of hyper-competitive dog owners in the lead-up to a national dog show.
Guest has created his own genre out of mining subcultures for comedy gold. He did it with heavy metal bands in Spinal Tap, amateur theatre participants in Waiting for Guffman, and 1970s folk music in A Mighty Wind. But Best in Show is arguably the most successful at finding the treasure in an obscure corner of society, and there is no competing with the ensemble cast.
Grande loves the film so much that she’s mastered her Eugene Levy as Gerry Fleck impression. In fact, she and her friend and fellow actor Liz Gillies recreated some of their favourite scenes from the film in 2022. Grande not only mastered all of Levy’s mannerisms and an impressive approximation of his voice, but absolutely nailed her impression of Jennifer Coolidge as Sherri Ann Cabot.
A remake of the film would be a travesty, but perhaps Guest should consider enlisting Grande for his next ensemble project. There is clearly a lot of potential.
