Mockumentaries and fake histories have been around nearly forever. Read the opening to Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers for one of the best old-school, fake “this is a true story” openers.Fargoopens with a classic fake-out that a lot of people believed, and the campaign for the originalThe Blair Witch Projectwas all about insisting it was real. Even the first films ever shot were staged-as-real events, since setting up those old, boxy cameras took forever. It doesn’t hurt that filmmakers likeChristopher Guesthave perfected improv as a filmable craft. Audiences like that line blurred, and the best mockumentaries are constantly playing with reality.
Here are seven masterclasses in suspended disbelief.
RELATED:How ‘Abbott Elementary’ Evolves the Mockumentary Sitcom
What We Do in the Shadows (2019)
If you love the 2014 film of the same name that inspiredWhat We Do in the Shadows, then the FX series will suck you in too. It’s a perfect mix of horror and comedy, somehow managing to carve a believable reality from fictional monsters. It doesn’t hurt that the horror elements are more visceral than we’re used to in most horror comedies, with effects to rival any other show on TV. The show even perfectly addresses the often over-the-top personalities of these vampires as they’re walking anachronisms, used to living on their own plane. Now, faced with a documentary crew, they’re forced to (occasionally, anyway) see themselves for whom they really are.
All You Need is Cash (1978)
This is Spinal Tap, and even the earlier TV mockumentaryBad News, owe a lot to thisEric Idle-penned who’s-who of 1970s comedy. With cameos from the earlySNLcast, to music acts likePaul SimonandMick Jagger,All You Need is Cashtells the story ofThe Rutles, who bear a slight visual, but very close career resemblance toThe Beatles. The film’s true magic is a series of perfect Beatles pastiches, written by musical geniusNeil Innes, which are so perfectly-produced as to make this obvious farce still seem somehow grounded. The film also gets incredibly meta when real-life BeatleGeorge Harrisonshows up as a newsman.
A Mighty Wind (2003)
The magic of putting well-produced music into a fake documentary as the film’s anchor is nothing new to Christopher Guest. After all, he was behindThis is Spinal Tap, and is an accomplished musician.A Mighty Windchanges things up, though, adding a new layer to the reality-behind-the-fiction. This story of aging folk musicians features music written and performed by everyone involved. If it’s a group like Mitch and Mickey (Eugene LevyandCatherine O’Hara) singing, it’s something they wrote together. Always a master of collaboration, Guest perfected his sculpting of false reality withA Mighty Wind.
Waiting for Guffman (1996)
You either knew a theater kid growing up, or you were the kind of kid who identified way too well with the try-hard Corky St. Clair and his cohorts. Christopher Guest waited twelve years to revisit the mockumentary format, but he picked the perfect subject matter for his return: community theater. Taking place in fictional Blaine, Missouri,Waiting for Guffmantells the story of a New York theater director bringing his talents to small-town America. The true triumph is taking truly musical actors like Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara and instructing them to play poor performers, all while having them improvise based on an outline. It’s the true mark of a good actor when they can play a bad one, and Waiting for Guffman manages to shine with brilliant-bad performances, while also making us love these characters.Guffmanmay well have relaunched an interest in the mockumentary style, and it even inspired some real-life amateur actors to put on the play from the film, entitled “Red, White and Blaine.”
Tanner ‘88(1988)
Garry Trudeau, best known as the creator of the comic strip “Doonesbury,” createdTanner ‘88, a satire of political campaigns in response to growing political unrest during the Reagan years. Directed byRobert Altman, the mini-series is a mix of scripted and improvised moments, as well as encounters with real political figures of the time, likeBob DoleandJesse Jackson. It’s stark and dark, but hilariously so. Producing a mockumentary about the 1988 presidential campaign as it was happening, often where it was happening, made for an intensely real-feeling set of episodes. The mini-series’ sense of humor thrives on this tension, and it’s hard to keep your eyes off it. It’s almost an American precursor to the BBC classicThe Thick of It, with a lot less creative swearing.
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Known best for lines like “These go to 11,“This is Spinal Tapis the story of a heavy metal group hitting it biggish, falling apart, and trying to mend things. This is Christopher Guest,Michael McKeanandHarry Shearerexercising years of collaboration as the sketch groupThe Credibility Gap. Written and improvised by the group, and directed byRob Reiner, the film, while often a slow burn, is filled with cameos likeFran Drescher,Billy Crystaland the always show-stealingFred Willard, and it helped launch an entire sub-genre of comedy TV.Ricky Gervaiswas a fan (though he didn’t realize it was improvised) and, likely, would never have started the originalThe Officein 2001 if it weren’t for the boys in Spinal Tap.
Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
If you’re going to put a TV star likeAndy Sambergin a lead role of a fake documentary, you should at least pile on the star power. With appearances bySarah Silverman, Adam LevineandUsher, it becomes so unbelievably overwhelmed with star power that you’re forced to sit back and accept this new reality. Taking a cue fromThis is Spinal Tapwith songs like “I’m So Humble,” and “Mona Lisa,” which solidly walk the line between perfectly-produced songs and inherently goofy performances,Pop Startakes the torch from its forebears and sort of just sets fire to the building. What it lacks in subtlety, it balances out with a solid thruline about friendship and love.
