Best in Show (2000)

Best in Show, and indeed most of Christopher Guest’s filmography as a director/actor, succeeds because of the firm belief and respect that the film holds for its characters. Guest gives each actor free reign to improvise and while their performances occasionally approach caricature, they always rein their talents back towards portraying their characters as real people. Most mockumentaries fail when they “flanderize” their characters, taking the goofy and endearing characteristics of each to an illogical extreme, transforming a sympathetic human into a formulaic cartoon character.

Best in Show never allows the viewer to feel derision for the characters and more importantly, for their ambitions to win the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. They sympathize with Eugen Levy’s character whose wife’s promiscuous past often comes to light and makes him feel vulnerable (while giving her a rush that Catherine O’Hara makes absolutely hilarious). McKean and Higgins’ couples are campy yet true to each, while the relationships that evolve with the other groups feel organic and fun.

The film is not going to change anybody’s life, but acts as an important precursor to the mockumentary style that is predominant in how sitcoms on national television are filmed today. Without Guest and company’s influence here, mainstays like The Office and Parks and Recreation might have had neither their iconic look nor their characters’ unique relationships with the camera itself. (I could hear O’Hara saying “camera” as Moria Rose from Schitt’s Creek just then and that makes me happy)