This is Spinal Tap showed everyone that by doing a fake documentary, you could do great comedy without the need (or the cost) of an expensive look.
Alas, as anyone who watches indie film comedy can probably attest, this technique has given birth to a lot of bad films, ones that don’t have the comedy core that is required. Outside of the films featuring the same Christopher Guest core team that made Spinal Tap, these “mockumentaries” don’t add up. TV has had a little more success (The Office, and, ummm, The Office, but I understand those who like Reno 911), bit the new Comedy Central semi-improv news crew mockumentary Dog Bites Man is yet another example that the formula doesn’t promise anything… and with the way that this show left me feeling like we’d seen it all before, it may actually be a major hinderance.
