(Like many Netflix customers, I too can get quite lax with the timely watching and returning of my movies, which of course defeats the entire purpose of having a flat-rate rental plan in the first place. To combat that, I am now writing standardized mini-reviews of each and every movie I end up watching through Netflix, both instantly and on DVD. Don't forget, all previous 'Justify My Netflix' reviews can be found on CCLaP's main movie page.)

Today's movie: Best In Show, 2000 (Amazon | IMDB | Netflix | Wikipedia)

Why I added it to my queue: Because this is a comedy classic that I should be ashamed of myself for still not seeing, a semi-improvisational mock documentary about the world of competitive dog shows, from the same group largely responsible for the '80s semi-improvisational mock documentary about heavy metal, This Is Spinal Tap.

The reality: Yep, it's Spinal Tap for dog shows, all right. And by that, I mean that the ad-hoc coalition of creatives responsible for this movie mainly do their jobs by picking a milieu ripe for gentle spoofing, and a cast that deftly knows how to do this, then standing back and letting the magic happen. And that I suppose is why all of this group's mock documentaries over the years have been judged primarily on how strong the milieu itself is in the first place -- see for example the much lesser esteem that is held for their 1997 Waiting for Guffman, set within a small-town community theatre company that is producing a brand-new pageant to celebrate their city's 150th anniversary, not only a world with fewer inherent jokes but that feels meaner when you mock them. That's not the case with competitive dog shows, a semi-absurdist community to begin with that is filled with almost a semi-parodying amount of stereotypes; and that's why when this movie goes broad sometimes with its comedy, like the flaming middle-aged gay couple and the controlling lesbians who are their arch-enemies, Best in Show gets away with it while other of their movies don't, for another example 2003's A Mighty Wind, which is too much a legitimate loving homage to '50s folk music to have its broadest jokes work. It comes recommended to anyone who likes to laugh, and laugh a lot.

Strangest piece of trivia: Parker Posey had a doctor install a real set of braces for her role here as a highly-strung yuppie.

Worth your time? Oh my, yes