The Crowd Goes Wild, by Bob Connally

When This is Spinal Tap was released in 1984, the mockumentary was a relatively novel concept. One of the film’s leads, Christopher Guest, would return to it as a director and star in 1996’s Waiting for Guffman, reassembling much of Spinal Tap’s cast. The mockumentary format has become much more prevalent in the two decades since, both in Guest’s other films (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind) and on television (The Office, Parks and Recreation, Reno! 911, and Guest’s own Family Tree, just to name a few). However, at this point, comedy in general has been highly influenced – for better or worse – by the format. Improvisational comedy, which sees actors going on tangential riffs while the camera just rolls, has become so commonplace that it’s surprising anymore to see a comedy film or TV series that doesn’t rely on it, at least to some extent.

Perhaps this is why Guest’s newest film, Mascots (streaming now on Netflix), takes a little while to really settle into an enjoyable rhythm. It’s become a bit too easy to see the wheels spinning. The actors new to Guest’s troupe try to surprise each other as well as Guest, instead of simply inhabiting their characters. Thankfully, enough of the old pros are here to make Mascots a funny, if not entirely consistent, comedy.

Mascots is structurally very similar to Best in Show. It revolves around a competition between various sports mascots from around the world to win the Gold Fluffy Award. We meet a handful of the competitors and judges in the buildup to the event. Some of the competitors we like, others we love, and some are people we would never want to be alone in a room with. What they all have in common is a love for what they do and a desire to win, but some take the competition- and themselves- more seriously than others.

Anyone familiar with Guest’s previous work will know exactly what to expect here and it delivers well enough that fans of those films should enjoy it. There are moments where it reaches a very high level, such as the Sid the Hedgehog routine, which besides being funny has a real emotional impact that we haven’t seen from any of these movies before. Also, any scene with Fred Willard (who doesn’t get nearly enough screen time in this one) is pure gold. Many of the usual suspects are here (Parker Posey, Ed Begley, Jr., Jane Lynch, Don Lake, Jim Piddock, etc.), but there is always something about Willard in particular in these movies that is a special joy to watch. Every time he manages to sell that he is the idiot we see before us. He hits a home run every trip to the plate in these films and 16 years later, I still think it’s a crime he didn’t win Best Supporting Actor for Best in Show. Tom Bennett and Chris O’Dowd (both of Family Tree) are real highlights as well.

Having recently re-watched This is Spinal Tap for approximately the 15^th time, I can say that remains the gold standard for mockumentaries and one of the funniest and greatest films ever made. While Mascots is no Spinal Tap, it is a fun way to spend 90 minutes, and it has moments of greatness scattered throughout.