Best in Show

I was introduced to this movie (read: heard of) a few years back when my brother raved about it. He's a really big fan of Fred Willard, and I will give him that, as Fred Willard is very funny, and shines especially bright in this movie, which is saying a lot, as his part is rather small, and he's surrounded by a ton of comedians in this movie.

My brother and I however, despite the fact that Netflix says we have a 66% commonality rate, find that it's odd "middle" movies that make us mesh so high. My favorite genres are action and comedy, and he tends to go for the more artistic/classics. As such, he find movies like "Being John Malkovich" funny, and I find them unfunny pieces of crap. And I'm sure he feels the same for a favorite comedy of mine like Ace Ventura or something.... Translation: we never take each other's advice on movies seriously. To prove that point, here I am 9 years later finally taking my brother's advice to see this movie.

It's a mockumentary movie, similar to Spinal Tap about dog showers and their lives. Each of the characters humor comes more from the raging stereotypes they play: The closet lesbian, Beauty and the Geek, the flamboyantly gay guys, the redneck... not to say that any of these aren't funny, but nor does the formula seem to hold weight as the movie progresses. All these people have in common is their love for showdogs. This movie seeks to poke fun at people like this, and I don't know why I feel this way after this viewing, but the people that are laughing need to take a look at themselves.

This isn't a movie like Spinal Tap, where the characters are just ridiculous and are meant to be mocked. Yes these characters are meant to be laughed at, but as far as due to their love of dogs? I don't know. Is it a little weird and insane? Yes, but so isn't playing 20 hours a day on World of Warcraft or Twittering all the time on your cell phone. I have a sense of humor, I realize the oddity in sticking up for these characters that are meant to be mocked, I just think a "look at the freaks!" mentality which pervades this film just can't hold water, at least not in my opinion.

You will laugh when you see this movie. It's mostly subtle in keeping with the mockumentary motif, but Fred Willard is pretty over the top (in his great subtle way), and there are the GAP couple, Meg and Hamilton Swan who have a fairly funny cathartic trek through the movie with their dog.

Basically similar to Ghost in the Shell, I expected a lot more. While my brother's opinions aren't often followed, they do carry weight with my obviously, as I expected a cinematic masterpiece and instead got a passable comedy movie, which is good for a chuckle or two, but is quickly forgotten.

3 out of 5 stars.