The Mockumentary: Truth, Lies, Laughter & More
- Sep 16
- 8 min read
With the release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, I figured now was the perfect time to dive into one of my favorite genres: the mockumentary. Yep, movies shot in the style of documentaries but telling completely fictional stories. Or, as I like to call it: the art of lying with a straight face.
A mockumentary, the word itself is a mash-up of “mock” and “documentary," is basically a movie (or TV show) that pretends to be a documentary while presenting totally made-up events. And the form has become one of the best ways to poke fun at real life, comment on society, parody documentary style itself, or just crank up the absurdity to 11 (pun very much intended).
What I love about mockumentaries is that they live in this weird in-between place. They’re not reality, they’re not fantasy, they’re not straight comedy, they’re this razor’s-edge balancing act where the audience buys into the “truth” of the world even though it’s all fake.
Now, while we think of the genre exploding in the ’80s and ’90s thanks to This Is Spinal Tap (and Rob Reiner popularizing the term “mockumentary” in interviews), the roots actually go way back.
Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread (1933) has mockumentary DNA in it. Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 (probably the greatest fake documentary of all time) convinced listeners the Martians had landed.
And then you’ve got Peter Watkins with films like The War Game (1965) and Punishment Park (1971), which blurred the line between documentary and staged drama in ways that still feel unsettling.
Even the BBC got in on it with the infamous “Swiss spaghetti harvest” prank in 1957, convincing viewers pasta grew on trees. That’s a mockumentary in miniature.
By the late ’60s and ’70s, filmmakers were starting to refine it. Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run (1969) presented his goofy criminal Virgil Starkwell in documentary style, complete with interviews and narration from Jackson Beck (who used to do real newsreels).
Albert Brooks made Real Life (1979), spoofing the PBS series An American Family. Fellini dabbled with The Clowns (1970). Even Monty Python sprinkled mockumentary bits into Flying Circus.
And then, of course, you had All You Need Is Cash (1978), parodying The Beatles through The Rutles, which, honestly, was so dead-on that it sometimes felt too real.
But the turning point, the holy grail, the Rosetta Stone of the genre is 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner directing Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, a fake British heavy metal band chronicled in all their idiotic glory.
It was so pitch-perfect that real musicians said, “That’s not funny, that’s just our life.” It’s no exaggeration to say that every mockumentary made after Spinal Tap owes it a debt.
Christopher Guest himself basically built a career from there: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind. All of them improvised, all of them character-driven, and, unfortunately, I think all of them are terrible.
Guest's irritating habit of mocking all of his characters in an arrogant, smug manner really ruins every positive thing about his mockumentaries.
Since then, the mockumentary has exploded across film and television. Tim Robbins skewered politics with Bob Roberts. Belgium gave us the disturbingly brilliant Man Bites Dog. Peter Jackson tricked an entire nation with Forgotten Silver.
The minimally talented Sacha Baron Cohen inexplicably turned the form into an international phenomenon with Borat, Brüno, and beyond. Even horror films like REC and Quarantine used the aesthetic.
And then the form invaded TV in a big way: The Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Trailer Park Boys, What We Do in the Shadows. Even Abbott Elementary today still uses the conceit.
There’s Documentary Now! parodying real docs, and Philomena Cunk asking absurd questions on the BBC. Hell, even Discovery Channel pulled a fast one with their fake megalodon doc. The format is everywhere.
Here’s the thing: the best mockumentaries work because they’re believable. They’re funny, yes, but they also nail the details of documentary filmmaking so well that you buy it.
They trick your brain for a second. They let you in on the joke, but they also make you wonder, “Wait, is this… real?” And that’s what makes them magical.
So, with Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting theaters this week, hoping to melt our faces off with amps that still go to 11, I thought it would be fun to put together a list of the ten best mockumentaries ever made (besides This is Spinal Tap, because it's the best).
Movies that capture the spirit of the form, that parody life while also showing us some truth about it. Because at the end of the day, the best mockumentaries aren’t just funny, they’re mirrors. Distorted, cracked, ridiculous mirrors, but mirrors all the same.
Here they are:
THE 10 BEST MOCKUMENTARIES (besides SPINAL TAP, of course):
Albert Brooks doesn’t get enough credit for being a pioneer, and for being one of the greatest filmmakers on the planet. Real Life was way ahead of its time, a satirical takedown of “reality television” before that phrase even existed.
Brooks plays a version of himself, a filmmaker who decides to document a “typical American family” for a year. Of course, everything unravels because the act of filming ruins the “reality.” Sound familiar?
It’s basically The Truman Show meets Keeping Up with the Kardashians, but twenty years earlier.
This movie is so prescient it’s scary. Watching it now, you realize Brooks predicted not only reality TV but also the total collapse of privacy we’re all living through. And it’s hilarious. If this movie came out today, it would be considered genius. In 1979, it confused people. Way ahead of the curve.
This one is legendary. The “found footage” horror phenomenon that changed the game. Three film students go into the woods to make a documentary about a local legend and… well, you know what happens. Or do you? What makes Blair Witch work is what you don’t see.
The shaky cam, the terrified performances, the marketing campaign that made people think it was real, it all adds up to one of the scariest horror experiences ever.
I saw this opening weekend in a packed theater, and people were screaming at twigs snapping on the soundtrack. That’s how effective it was. Some people hate the shaky cam. I love it. It makes me nauseous in the best possible way. And it inspired about a thousand bad copycats. But the original? Still brilliant.
A Belgian black comedy so dark it’s basically pitch black. A documentary crew follows a charming serial killer as he casually murders people, talks about philosophy, and drags the filmmakers deeper and deeper into complicity.
It’s horrifying, funny, and deeply unsettling. By the end, you feel guilty for laughing. Which is the point.
This is one of those movies you recommend carefully. It’s disturbing, violent, and hard to watch. But it’s also genius. It skewers both our fascination with killers and the media’s role in glorifying them. The title says it all... if a dog bites a man, no one cares. If a man bites a dog, it’s news. And we watch.
Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s mockumentary about four vampire roommates in New Zealand is one of the funniest movies of the last decade. It’s basically The Real World: Vampire Edition.
They deal with chores, flatmate drama, and the occasional bloody massacre. The humor is dry, absurd, and rooted in the mundane.
I absolutely love this movie. It takes vampire mythology, which is usually so self-serious, and makes it ridiculous. A vampire who can’t get into a nightclub because he has to be invited in? Brilliant. Plus, it spawned a fantastic TV series that’s just as good, maybe even better in some seasons.
Eric Idle and Neil Innes created The Rutles, a parody of The Beatles so dead-on that it sometimes feels like you’re watching actual archival footage.
The songs are perfect Beatles knockoffs, the interviews are hilarious, and the whole thing is a loving but savage send-up of Beatlemania. George Harrison even makes a cameo, which tells you how spot-on it was.
I adore this. The songs get stuck in your head. “Cheese and Onions” is better than some real Lennon tracks. If you love The Beatles, and I do, this is both affectionate and brutal. It’s satire with a smile.
Okay, so technically this is a biopic, but it’s presented mockumentary-style, with characters breaking the fourth wall, giving contradictory interviews, and commenting on the events.
Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding is electric, and Allison Janney steals the movie as her chain-smoking, abusive mother. It turns the whole Tonya/Nancy scandal into a tragicomic circus.
People forget how insane the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan story was. It was the O.J. trial of figure skating. And this movie nails it, funny, sad, outrageous. I love that it doesn’t let anyone off the hook. Everyone’s guilty, everyone’s pathetic, and it’s all played for dark comedy. Perfect.
The Lonely Island’s parody of modern pop stardom is criminally underrated. Andy Samberg plays Conner4Real, a Bieber-esque singer whose solo career implodes in spectacular fashion. It’s a spot-on send-up of celebrity culture, music docs, and the vapid nonsense of the entertainment industry.
This movie bombed at the box office, which is a crime. It’s hilarious. The songs are brilliant. “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)” should’ve won an Oscar. And the cameos (everyone from Seal to Mariah Carey) are perfect. If you haven’t seen it, fix that immediately.
A fake documentary about a small-town beauty pageant in Minnesota that turns into a deadly competition. Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney... the cast is stacked. It’s a razor-sharp satire of American vanity, ambition, and small-town politics.
This was dismissed when it came out, but it’s become a cult classic for good reason. It’s dark, it’s mean, and it’s hilarious. Allison Janney should be in every mockumentary. She steals every scene. And if you grew up in the Midwest (like I did), you recognize these people immediately.
A documentary crew follows a would-be slasher villain, Leslie Vernon, as he prepares to become the next horror icon. It deconstructs every slasher trope, the final girl, the jump scare, the masked killer, while also being a solid horror movie in its own right.
Horror fans love this one, and so do I. It’s smart, funny, and bloody. It feels like Scream meets Spinal Tap. And the idea that slashers are just guys who train like athletes? Genius. It’s a love letter to horror that also skewers it.
Rusty Cundieff’s parody of hip-hop culture and music documentaries like This Is Spinal Tap and Straight Outta Compton. It follows the fictional rap group N.W.H. (N****z With Hats) as they deal with fame, controversy, and ridiculous lyrics.
This is hilarious, and sadly overlooked. It’s Spinal Tap for hip-hop, and it’s just as sharp. The satire of rap beefs, censorship, and clueless white critics still holds up. Plus, the fake songs are as catchy as they are stupid. “Booty Juice”? Come on. Comedy gold.
So there you go, my ten favorite mockumentaries, ranked. From genius Albert Brooks predicting reality TV before it existed to New Zealand vampires arguing over chores, the mockumentary has given us some of the funniest, weirdest, most brilliant films ever made.
And with Spinal Tap II cranking it all back up, it’s the perfect time to revisit the genre. Because sometimes the best way to tell the truth… is to fake a documentary about it.
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