Top 20 Movie Mockumentaries

#20: “Theater Camp” (2023)

Sometimes, jazz hands can lead to disaster. "Theater Camp" throws us into the world of a scrappy summer camp for kids who dream in show tunes. This summer, though, is different: the camp's beloved founder has landed in a coma. The eccentric counselors scramble to keep the place alive. We follow a journey full of awkward auditions, diva tantrums, and Broadway-sized egos stuffed into child-size costumes. The film manages to roast theater kids from a place of deep and abiding love. It strikes a perfect balance between satire and sincerity. Whether you spent summers perfecting your monologue or just survived one school musical, this comedy knows your world a little too well.

#19: “FUBAR” (2002)

Aging stoners get the mockumentary treatment in “FUBAR,” a Canadian film filmed digitally on a very, very low budget. Two mulleted, head-banging best friends are chosen as the subjects for a documentary about the common man. Between the beer chugging sequences and the trips to the doctor to battle testicular cancer, this mockumentary is an unexpected emotional rollercoaster. Touching on themes of friendship, loyalty, maturity, and rocking out, “FUBAR” is both raucously funny and, at times, tender.

#18: “Dark Side of the Moon” (2002)

Director William Karel’s “Dark Side of the Moon” purports to tell the “true” story of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing: you know the deal, that the whole thing was all faked by director Stanley Kubrick at the request of the CIA. Karel tricked many people, including Kubrick’s widow and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, into participating in his mockumentary. The result is doc-style film so skillfully done. Many conspiracy theorists view it as a serious exposé of NASA’s duplicity.

#17: “CB4” (1993)

Chris Rock’s mockumentary takes hip-hop’s “keep it real” mantra and turns it into a punchline. Mild-mannered Albert Brown rebrands himself as “MC Gusto.” How does he manage this epic transformation? Good old identity theft. He steals the identity of an actual gangster. Then, like hip-hop Avengers, he teams up with Dead Mike and Stab Master Arson to form the group Cell Block 4. A 'documentary crew' captures their rocket ride to fame. It also picks up all the insane fallout along the way. From moral crusaders, industry phonies, and rival rappers, "CB4" takes perfect satirical aim at the early '90s rap game. The movie gleefully skewers image over substance while still having a blast with the music-biz spectacle.

#16: “Man Bites Dog” (1992)

Belgium’s “Man Bites Dog” is an extremely dark comedy that follows a serial killer on his spree of death and mayhem. Befitting of its subject matter, “Man Bites Dog” is graphically violent. The fact that the killer is presented as witty and charismatic, and that the fictional film crew becomes drawn into his world, offends many. But “Man Bites Dog” makes serious, thoughtful points about celebrity and humanity in the modern world through its mockumentary style.

#15: “Incident at Loch Ness” (2004)

Werner Herzog and Zak Penn collaborated on this film-within-a-film mockumentary. Herzog is supposedly filming a documentary on the Loch Ness Monster. Penn is an unscrupulous Hollywood producer who creates a fake Nessie to add drama to the proceedings. Except then the real Nessie shows up – maybe. “Incident at Loch Ness” is fascinating fun that examines the whole concept of reality, all as one big prank.

#14: “It’s All Gone Pete Tong” (2004)

This Canadian mockumentary looks at Frankie Wilde, an incredibly successful DJ who’s achieved wealth and fame. The problem: he’s going deaf because he’s constantly surrounded by loud music and drugs. “It’s All Gone Pete Tong” has some amazing sequences – particularly those in which Wilde hallucinates about a giant badger who represents his substance use disorder. An emotional journey that’s both funny and frustrating, it’s an exciting comeback story – with a fake DJ at its core.

#13: “Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon” (2006)

What if Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers were just regular dudes who needed prep time? This cult mockumentary imagines just that, following an ambitious would-be slasher named Leslie Vernon. He hires a documentary crew to track his careful preparations for his first murder spree. We follow him as he scouts victims, preps weapons, and even does cardio to keep up the illusion of “walking fast.” The first half of the movie is a hysterical jab at slasher genre conventions. When the killings actually begin, the laughs give way to real terror. The back half uses those same genre tropes to masterful effect. "Behind the Mask" is somehow both a parody and a clever slasher flick in its own right.

#12: “Real Life” (1979)

Leave it to Albert Brooks to predict reality TV decades before it took over the airwaves. In "Real Life," Brooks plays a satirical version of himself. The character, Albert Brooks, is trying to capture the “truth” by filming an average American family around the clock. Armed with clunky 1970s technology and a complete lack of self-awareness, he turns their lives into chaos instead. The film brilliantly skewers both the voyeurism of documentaries and the absurdity of filmmakers who claim to be objective. A seemingly noble experiment quickly unravels. Awkward comedy and self-inflicted disaster ensue. Long before we snooped on "Big Brother" or kept up with the Kardashians, Brooks let us know just how fake “real life” can be.

#11: “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (1980)

"The Gods Must Be Crazy" answers an important question: what does it take to upend a civilization? In this case, a single empty Coke bottle. In this South African cult comedy, a glass Coke bottle is tossed over the Kalahari Desert from a passing plane. A Bushman stumbles upon the strange object and brings it home. His tribe first sees it as a divine gift, but envy and chaos quickly follow. He embarks on an epic quest to return it to the heavens. Shot in a mock-documentary style, the film mixes slapstick, satire, and culture-clash gags into a uniquely offbeat package.

#10: “Bob Roberts” (1992)

Tim Robbins' political mockumentary "Bob Roberts" fittingly coincided with the 1992 presidential election. Robbins writes, directs, and stars as the title character: a folksy, guitar-strumming conservative running for the U.S. Senate. His campaign songs are toe-tapping odes to greed and paranoia. A documentary crew dutifully captures his “outsider” image as well as the sheer lunacy he encounters on the campaign trail. The film cleverly blurs the lines between politics, performance, and propaganda. "Bob Roberts" is a humorous look at politics. At the same time, it predicted how depressingly easy it is to sell personality over policy. Equal parts satire and cautionary tale, "Bob Roberts" feels alarmingly relevant decades later.

#9: “A Mighty Wind” (2003)

Christopher Guest has made a career of mockumentaries, and “A Mighty Wind” is one of his funniest – and surprisingly touching as well. In the film, three long-disbanded folk groups reunite for a special reunion concert. Poking fun at a wide range of subjects, from folk music to the 1960s to show business, “A Mighty Wind” is a great showcase for some of the most talented improvisational actors in film.

#8: “7 Days in Hell” (2015)

Take Jon Snow and Jake Peralta, put them in Wimbledon, and sprinkle a little cocaine on top. That’s the premise of this HBO sports mockumentary. "7 Days in Hell" chronicles a fictional tennis match that lasts - no joke - a full week. Andy Samberg stars as Aaron Williams, a bad-boy American player in the style of Andre Agassi. Kit Harington co-stars as Charles Poole, a dim-witted British tennis prodigy. Their absurd marathon match becomes a carnival of streakers, courtroom trials, and mid-game meltdowns. Their story is told with deadpan “30 for 30”–style narration. At just over 40 minutes, "7 Days in Hell" is quick, chaotic, and hysterically unhinged.

#7: “Waiting for Guffman” (1997)

Director Christopher Guest plays Corky St. Clair, a community theatre director in Blaine, Missouri. St. Clair is engaged to create a production in honor of the small town’s sesquicentennial – and the whole cast becomes excited when a Broadway producer announces his intent to see the show. Filled with odd characters and outlandishly quirky humor, “Guffman” lovingly captures the egoism and exaggerated drama of amateur theatricals, while also paralleling Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot.”

#6: “Zelig” (1983)

In the 1920s and 30s, America became obsessed with one strange figure: Leonard Zelig, the “human chameleon.” He could physically and psychologically blend into any group he joined. One day, he was a ballplayer. The next, he was shaking hands with world leaders. 1983's "Zelig" sells the illusion with fake newsreels, staged interviews, and seamless editing. The faux historical documentary was so well-constructed that it fooled audiences into double-takes. Equal parts technical marvel and satire, "Zelig" pokes fun at celebrity culture and society’s hunger for novelty. Forty years later, it could easily trick audiences today.

#5: "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" (2021)

Who knew a one-inch shell in sneakers could break your heart? This feature-length mockumentary expands on the viral YouTube shorts. We follow Marcel and his grandmother as they navigate life after being separated from their community. A filmmaker documents Marcel’s tiny daily routines. He climbs furniture, watches "60 Minutes," and dreams of finding family again. The mix of stop-motion animation and live action makes Marcel feel astonishingly real. He is a fragile but determined little voice in a big, lonely world. Equal parts whimsy and profound emotional weight, the film proves that even the smallest stories can elicit a big response.

#4: “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014)

Before the Emmy-winning spin-off show, the film asks us what vampires would be like as roommates?' This cult New Zealand mockumentary follows Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr. They're a band of centuries-old bloodsuckers trying to share a flat in Wellington. A documentary crew captures the hilarity of their eternal squabbles: who does the dishes, and how to get invited into nightclubs. Co-directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, the film parodies vampire lore while sneaking in some surprisingly sweet character beats. Equal parts horror and deadpan comedy, "What We Do in the Shadows" became a lasting franchise.

#3: “Best in Show” (2000)

The world of pompous dog contests gets the Christopher Guest treatment in “Best in Show,” which follows five canine entrants – and their owners – at the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. With many of Guest’s perennial favorite actors filling the roles, this mockumentary earned high praise from critics. From a hyper-competitive yuppie couple to a small-town storeowner with a secret yen to be a ventriloquist, the dog owners are a mixed lot – and they make for some genuinely hilarious moments.

#2: “Borat” (2006)

Sacha Baron Cohen’s unique style of guerrilla mockumentary-making burst onto the big screen with “Borat.” It was so well-received that he continued the style in 2009’s “Bruno” and a direct sequel, but the original “Borat” marked a pop culture milestone. Cohen’s title character is a journalist from Kazakhstan on a tour of the United States, which results in significant culture shock and silliness. Many of the interactions are with real people who believed Cohen was the character he portrayed – and this approach leads to some unexpectedly honest reactions – for better or worse.

#1: “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984)

Rob Reiner’s fictional “rockumentary,” “This Is Spinal Tap” was not the first mockumentary – but it laid the groundwork for all that came after it. The film follows the fictitious heavy metal band Spinal Tap on a problem-plagued U.S. tour. From its vision of a teeny-tiny Stonehenge set to an amp that memorably “go to 11,” “This Is Spinal Tap” is comic brilliance. So much so that the lead actors have continued to “reunite” the band periodically for some memorable concerts, recordings, and the 2025 sequel.

Which mockumentary makes you laugh until it hurts? Let us know in the comments below!