From ‘Marcel’ to ‘Theater Camp,’ mockumentaries that turn it up to 11
‘This Is Spinal Tap’ may have set the standard, but these sendups are worth their weight in mock gold
We’re in the midst of a golden age for documentaries. From docs about true crime to wild turkeys, social issues to sports legends, Blist celebrities to befriending an octopus, there’s something for everyone.
And the same could be said of the genre’s more lighthearted — and lightheaded — cousin, the mockumentary.
“Theater Camp,” out Friday, is a mockumentary starring Molly Gordon, Ben Platt (“Dear Evan Hansen”), and Dorchester native Ayo Edebiri (TV’s “The Bear”). The film, which was a hit at Sundance, is a sendup of summer arts programs: Here, the hapless son of the owner of an upstate New York camp, AdirondACTS, is forced into a leadership role as the camp lurches toward financial ruin.
They make do. “We’re theater people,” one character says. “We know how to turn cardboard into gold.”
As the name implies, mockumentaries spoof the conventions of documentary: the voice-overs and one-onone interviews, the handheld cameras, the reaction shots and fourth-wallbreaking. Woody Allen was an early pioneer with “Take the Money and Run” (1969), a portrait of a bumbling bank robber named Virgil Starkwell who carves a gun out of soap. Look magazine declared the movie “nuttiness triumphant,” which is a good yardstick.
The Beatles, whose feature film debut, “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964), was a kind of mockumentary, were themselves parodied as the Rutles in 1978’s “All You Need Is Cash,” a made-for-TV film co-produced by Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels. Over the years, the mockumentary form has attracted such esteemed filmmakers as Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog, Spike Lee, and Peter Jackson, and it has spilled over into TV sitcoms and sketch comedy shows, notably “Arrested Development,” “The Office,” “Cunk on Earth,” and the IFC series “Documentary Now!,” in which Bill Hader and Fred Armisen lampoon actual classic docs.
The king of the genre, of course, is Christopher Guest, who has directed and co-written (with Eugene Levy) “Waiting for Guffman” (1996, a parody of community theater productions), “Best in Show” (2000, dog shows), and “A Mighty Wind” (2003, aging folkies), among others. Guest also starred alongside Michael McKean in the mockumentary against which all others are measured, “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984), a satirical depiction of heavy metal culture that marked Rob Reiner’s directorial debut.
Almost 40 years since Spinal Tap’s third drummer spontaneously combusted, the mockumentary continues to detonate. This list of the best of the rest goes to 11.
“Bob Roberts” (1992)
Like a lot of mockumentaries, Tim Robbins’s directorial debut began as a sketch on a comedy show, in this case “Saturday Night Live.” Robbins’s title character is essentially Bob Dylan in a banker’s suit, a guitar-strumming, right-wing candidate for the US Senate, railing against people who rely on welfare. “The times they are a-changing back,” he sings, on his prescient quest to make America great again.
“Forgotten Silver” (1995)
Long before he brought World War I back to life in “They Shall Not Grow Old” (2018) and resurrected the Beatles’ last days as the mammoth doc project “Get Back” (2021), Peter Jackson co-directed this ingenious one-hour feature about a fictitious, forgotten New Zealand filmmaker. When it first aired, it fooled many viewers. Despite the unfortunate appearance of Harvey Weinstein’s bloated mug, Jackson’s elaborate hoax holds up nicely today.
“CSA: The Confederate States of America” (2004)
What if the South had won the Civil War? That’s the premise of Kevin Willmott’s mock-doc, purportedly aired on “Confederate Television” in, of all places, San Francisco. The film opens with a title card bearing a quote attributed (questionably) to George Bernard Shaw: “If you’re going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they’ll kill you.” Willmott went on to help Spike Lee write the screenplays for “BlacKkKlansman” and “Da 5 Bloods.”
“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006)
Sacha Baron Cohen’s outrageous creation has produced some of the most inappropriate, involuntary laughter of the modern era. A Tocqueville for our ridiculous times, reporter Borat Sagdiyev embarks on a trek across the “US and A” to study American culture. If you can stomach all the raunch and boorishness, you’re probably well aware that Baron Cohen went on to make “Bruno” (2009) and a Borat “Subsequent Moviefilm” (2020).
“Surf’s Up” (2007)
With direct nods to “The Endless Summer” and the many surfing documentaries that followed, this wry animated tale tracks aspiring surf penguin Cody Maverick (the voice of Shia LaBeouf ) as he seeks the guidance of the reclusive legend Big Z (voiced, naturally enough, by Jeff Bridges). “I’m not a legend,” Z says, Dude-like. “I’m just a guy looking for a nice wave and some good friends.”
“The Grand” (2008)
With an all-star cast that includes Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Ray Romano, Cheryl Hines, and several reallife poker legends, this film explores the loony world of high-stakes gambling. Following the lead of “This Is Spinal Tap,” director Zak Penn gave his actors outlines for their characters and then let them improvise. Filmmaking legend Werner Herzog appears as “The German,” an absurd, terrifying player who needs to kill a living creature every day to prepare for battle in the casino.
“The Trip” (2010)
Adapted from the comic BBC series of the same name, this feature follows Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, as they tour the UK to sample some of the country’s finest dining establishments. A journalist, Coogan is assigned the trip; when his girlfriend declines to go, he asks an irritating friend. Various impressions — of Michael Caine, Al Pacino, Sean Connery — ensue.
“What We Do in the Shadows” (2014)
Co-written and -directed by Taika Waititi, who would soon give us the black comedy “Jojo Rabbit” (2019), this film launched a franchise that continues today as an FX TV series. Four vampires who share a flat in a New Zealand suburb grant full access to a documentary crew. Waititi’s character, 379-yearold Viago, is a fussbudget, based on the filmmaker’s own real-life mother (who is not, by all accounts, a vampire).
“7 Days in Hell” (2015)
Andy Samberg and Kit Harington star in this takeoff on the longest tennis match in history, the 2010 Isner-Mahut showdown at Wimbledon, which extended over three days and lasted more than 11 hours. Samberg’s character, Aaron Williams, is an orphan adopted by the father of Venus and Serena Williams, and the story only gets weirder from there. Samberg was also one of the masterminds behind the boy-band spoof “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” (2016).
“Mister America” (2019)
The cringe comedian Tim Heidecker is adept at smudging the lines between real life and fiction, and he smudges all over the place in this political burlesque. Narrowly acquitted of murder after 20 people overdose on e-cigarettes at an electronic music festival he promoted, Heidecker campaigns to oust the district attorney of San Bernardino County. He wants to exact revenge on the DA who prosecuted him. His campaign slogan: “We Have a Rat Problem.”
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” (2021)
Jenny Slate’s stop-motion snail gets the feature treatment after the viral success of those adorable short films. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, the film finds the real-life Dean — Slate’s ex-husband — occupying an Airbnb, where he meets the googly-eyed Marcel, grandmother Connie, and their pet ball of lint, Alan. He’s thinking of making a documentary, Dean says. “Oh, like a movie, but nobody has any lines, and nobody even knows what it is while they’re making it?” Marcel asks. Yes, Marcel. So, uh, true.