Best in Show (2000)

I don't think I've covered a Christopher Guest mockumentary yet, so let's have one now. Not Spinal Tap because we all know all the words already, and not Waiting for Guffman or For your consideration because they're both kind of rubbish. A Mighty Wind isn't; it's well worth a watch and I'll probably write about it another day, but I've seen it a few times before and wasn't in that huge a hurry to revisit. By a process of elimination, then, this leaves us with 2000's Best in Show.

Most of the usual Guest crew are there - Catherine O'Hara, Jane Lynch, Eugene Levy and Michael McKean, to name but a few - this time as participants in an important national dog show. We follow the characters and their dogs through their journeys to the venue and then the finals ring, witnessing interviews and judging sessions as well as occasional candid moments.

Nothing here is particularly surprising; the characters veer towards the grotesque and there's a few killer lines, mostly coming from Fred Willard as a show commentator or, not unexpectedly, from Guest himself. He plays one Harlan Pepper, a folksy type with a sweet-natured bloodhound and an ability to name every kind of nut from pistachio to red pistachio.

Funnier than A Mighty Wind but not so amusing as Spinal Tap, Best in Show unfortunately lacks the warmth of either. It has a certain meanness of spirit that makes me feel uncomfortable from time to time, particularly when it comes to the gay and lesbian characters - Jane Lynch has seldom been so loveable, but she's still playing an old-fashioned cliche, while John Michael Higgins' gay dog handler Scott is an offensive stereotype straight out of the 1970s.

Would I recommend Best in Show? Certainly. It's a consistently funny look at a world that I'd guess is almost certainly every bit as weird as Guest portrays it. If you're looking for something properly endearing, though, I'd advise you to give this one a miss and go for one of his musically-themed titles instead.