Film The Best of Guest
This movie is my gold standard for Guest's work. Among dog people, there's a split between people who think it's funny, because it's basically true, and people who think it's not funny, because it's basically true. I fall in the funny camp. While the characters are slightly exaggerated, that "slightly" needs to be emphasized past what text is capable of. Of course, the humor works on multiple levels, so you don't need to be a dog person to enjoy the movie.
Like any Guest movie, what makes it work are the characters. For me, it's a toss-up between the gay couple who spoil their Shih-tzus rotten and the yuppie couple who have basically turned their Weimaraner neurotic with their controlling behavior. It's not just the way they interact with their dogs, but how the couples interact with each other. Gotta love the story of how the one couple met at Starbucks. Different Starbucks. Across the street from each other.
Film A satire whose appeal breaks free from its niche.
Christopher Guest is well known as a filmmaker willing to mock very specific fields and hobbies, and dog shows may be one of his most inspired targets. Through an obscure, very theatrical and fairly privileged trade, Guest finds great room for commentary about the way hobbies can be empty distractions from interpersonal problems while also making a hilarious movie.
Christopher Guest works with outlines more than a script, leaving his cast members free to invent a large amount of the dialogue and jokes, and this improv-heavy style really helps create the authentic tone of the documentary frame Guest works in. It really feels like these Mayflower Kennel Club dog show contestants are real people being interviewed without a plan, and yet what they produce is often too good for any writer to come up with. Parker Posey is probably the standout of the film as a neurotic, detestable yuppie with a hateful marriage and gets some legendary freakout moments, but John Michael Higgins is hilarious as the flamboyant half of a gay couple, and Jennifer Coolidge, while not at her comic best in this film, is still always a joy to see. The film does a good job introducing the relationships and backgrounds of these dog show contestants and has a brilliant final act where they essentially just stage the dog show, which is not only done extremely accurately, but also made accessible and hilarious through a clueless, off-color announcer (Fred Willard) who gets the show explained to him by his expert co-host. The dogs are shown as a buffer between people and their real issues, but the show ends up changing the people who attended. It's a good story backed by great improv character work.
The dog show aspect has made this film a Thanksgiving tradition for me. When the Thanksgiving dog show airs at your next November, watch it and then pop in the Mayflower one. I think you'll appreciate the experience.