Anyone who enjoyed Christopher Guest's hilarious mock-umentary Waiting for Guffman is sure to enjoy his latest fake reality movie, Best in Show.

Most of the cast and crew from Guffman are back for this new entry, which chronicles the lives of several nutcases who enter their dogs in a Philadelphia dog competition. Once they get through round one of the contest, called "best in group," most of them make it to the "best in show" final round.

The film's main focus is on several couples who are much wackier than their dogs, including Cookie and Gerry Fleck, played hilariously by Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Cookie is a wild woman with a sordid past that causes Gerry lots of jealousy, especially when her old boyfriends show up and she doesn't even recognize them. But Gerry has plenty to worry about on his own, primarily the obstacle of having two left feet.

Their competitors include Harlan Pepper, a southern bloodhound owner (Christopher Guest, a far cry from Guffman's Corky); Meg and Hamilton Swan, uptight cranks who are obsessed with catalogue clothes; Scott and Stefan, a flamboyantly gay couple; and Sherri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) and her lesbian handler.

All of these characters finally converge at the grand event, which brings out the best and worst (mostly worst) in the dog owners.

Like Waiting for Guffman, there's lots of funny stuff here. The film's realistic style (including interviews with the characters throughout) makes the characters hilariously real, which is no doubt aided by the actors' gifted improvisational skills. Particularly amusing is Parker Posey as Meg, who has so much tension running through her that whenever she opens her mouth a scream comes out. She also displays wonderfully awkward facial expressions, which are exaggerated by her braces (which her husband also wears).

Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy have great chemistry as Cookie and Gerry, who appear to take great delight in singing awful songs about their dog. The funniest aspect of their relationship is how Levy reacts to O'Hara's old beaus, who come up to her and say things like, "That was the only time I ever did it on a roller coaster."

Also great is Jennifer Coolidge as Sherri Ann, who justifies her marriage to a ninety-something toothless man by proclaiming "we both like soup." And Christopher Guest once again transforms himself into someone completely different, this time a simple-minded bloodhound owner with a southern drawl.

Best in Show never says anything deep or profound, but it never tries to pass itself off as anything but light humor. On that level it succeeds admirably, particularly because of the actors' quick timing and realistic dialogue. At times, it gets a little too real, such as with the showrunner, who previews the arena before anyone arrives. While it is subtly funny, minor characters like these slowed the pace of the film, which would have been more consistently funny had it stuck to the main characters throughout.

But that's a minor flaw in a film filled with wonderfully funny performances and interesting observations on common human behavior. The reason the humor works is that humans really behave like this: jealous, bitter and joyful.

Sometimes we just need to sit back and laugh at ourselves, and that's exactly what the makers of this film have in mind.

Best in Show

*** 1/2 (out of four)

Starring: Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael McKean

Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy

Directed by Christopher Guest

Warner Brothers, PG-13