HBO's Well Groomed pushes past the spectacle of competitive dog grooming

Salon.com

Filmmaker Rebecca Stern was new to documentaries when she decided to tackle competitive dog grooming. “I had been working in the field for about a year and a half, and I was going to panels and asking directors and producers why they pick subjects and they said it was based on curiosity," she says. As Ashlie D. Stevens notes, "one of the ways that Well Groomed really distinguishes itself from the glut of documentaries currently on offer is that Stern utilizes her natural curiosity about the topic to really push past the spectacle and seek answers about the groomers’ daily lives and process. They have to navigate their competitive dreams, while also balancing their grooming salons, day-to-day clients, and family lives."