8.5/10
Werner Herzog again manipulating the documentary genre...the story is that a cameraman is making a documentary on Werner Herzog called "Herzog in Wonderland" and it follows him as he prepares to direct a documentary on the Loch Ness Monster called "The Enigma of Loch Ness". The production quickly turns into a comedy of errors centering around the bumbling producer Zak Penn who appears to only want to have a role in the project because his name alongside Herzog's will give him some real credibility. As he, Herzog and the rest of the small film crew take to the high seas to shoot the documentary, all kinds of revelations are made along the way, tempers flare, people drown, guns are pulled, and the boat is attacked by the actual Loch Ness monster itself...
It becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly (and I even knew it beforehand) that the entire thing is a sham - there is no "Herzog in Wonderland" doc and there is no "Enigma of Loch Ness" and everything you see happening is carefully scripted by Herzog and acted out by real-life people (e.g. Zak Penn really is a Hollywood producer), but it blurs the lines between fiction and reality so well, and it's hilarious to watch everything unfold. I have no idea why this movie got some poor reviews and a score as low as 6.6 on IMDB - maybe people were expecting a real documentary by Herzog on the Loch Ness Monster? Nevertheless it's a really well done look at the genre and an interesting watch to boot.
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