Who's the Caboose?

Who's the Caboose?

Pilot Season Productions

April 10, 1997

Mockumentary

DVD
C-

Not funny but not painfully unfunny.  Sam Seder directed, co-wrote, and plays Max.

Troll Hunter AKA Trolljegeren

Troll Hunter AKA Trolljegeren

Filmkameratene A/S etc.

29 October 2010

Mockumentary? Horror?  Fantasy?

DVD
D+

I'm not sure how to take this, since it's clearly amateurish, but maybe deliberately so.  The scenery is lovely of course.  André Øvredal wrote and directed, nine years before Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Killing Gunther

Killing Gunther

Lionsgate

September 22, 2017

Action, Mockumentary

DVD
D+

Not funny but at least they try.  Taran Killam wrote, directed, and stars.

The Independent

The Independent

Arrow Entertainment

December 7, 2001

Mockumentary

DVD
C-

I can see the potential here, especially in the film-within-the-film parodies, but it's just not funny.  Stephen Kessler directed and co-wrote.

I'm Still Here

I'm Still Here

Magnolia Pictures

September 10, 2010

Mockumentary

DVD
D

Obnoxious.  Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck play themselves and co-wrote, while Affleck directed.

Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo

Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo
National Lampoon Productions
2006
Mockumentary, Musical
DVD
C-

Les Claypool wrote, directed, and stars in this parody of jam bands (like Grateful Dead).

Confetti

Confetti
BBC Films
5 May 2006
Mockumentary
DVD
C-

Debbie Isitt directed and came up with the concept for this improvised (a la Christopher Guest) tale of a creative-wedding competition.  The thing is, the weddings aren't that imaginative (seriously, tennis?) and the results aren't that funny.  Apparently, the DVD has three endings (a bit like Clue), but I didn't care enough to watch beyond the beginning.

Best in Show

Best in Show
Warner Bros.
October 20, 2000
Mockumentary
DVD
B

Guest directed and with Levy co-wrote this movie, and the two of them play two of the main characters in it, although each set of dogs & owners gets moments in the spotlight.  I saw this movie at the time and maybe once again in the intervening almost twenty years, and I do think it holds up well, in both humor and story-- all the more impressive considering how much of it was improvised-- but I don't think it has the extra oomph that This Is Spinal Tap (1984, and reviewed here https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/11/this-is-spinal-tap.html) has.  By the way, I think Begley's reference here to a rock band he can't say by name is a Spinal Tap joke. 

I actually forgot which dog won and thought it was Hubert the Hound, but it makes narrative sense for it to be the Flecks' Winky, because that family, especially Gerry (Levy's character), are most the (sorry) underdogs.  And the funniest performance here is Larry Miller's cameo as one of O'Hara's many exes, which surprised me because his humor can be hit or miss for me.  The "not the same Starbucks" line remains classic.

I had to leave Patrick Cranshaw out of the crowded tags, but I will note that he was then 80 and had been playing old men for about thirty years, like on Mork & Mindy.