Longhornliz said:
Hey Rgirl-
Do you like any of the other fake-umentaries from the writers of Spinal Tap? I recently saw A mighty Wind and I was a little disapointed... but then again folk music isnt really my thing. I loved Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.
Great question. IMO, "Spinal Tap" is the piece de resistance of mockumentaries. For one thing, serious heavy metal rock group documentaries had already been down by directories such as Martin Scorsese and they were all just as revelatory towards these groups that were basically a bunch of middle class guys who caught the wave of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. In "Spinal Tap" there are roll on the floor and laugh till you puke scenes. There aren't many subjects that can elicit that kind of response. Also, it was the first and it was brilliant. All they had to do was take scenes from other rock and music documentaries and put a little spin on them. The series documentaries are pretty hilarious as it is.
As for Guest/McKean/Shearer et al.'s subsequent works, I thought "Best of Show" was very good. Again, great subject matter. I too was rather disappointed with "A Mighty Wind" at first, but the more I watched it and the less I expected a "Spinal Tap" experience, the more I appreciated it. In "Spinal Tap" there are wet your pants laughs that go on and on. In "A Mighty Wind," the humor is more subtle. For example, I have really grown to love the couple in "The NEW Mainstreet Singers" where the wife talks and looks like a former beauty queen and in fact is a former porn star. The way she and her husband talk about how they met as if it were some religious experience, with her smiling and winking the whole time, gets funnier every time I see it. Plus I think their "religion of color" is hilarious. Same thing with Marty and Mickey. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara now have me laughing out loud every time I watch it. If "Spinal Tap" is a 10, I'd give "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind" about an 8.
As for "Waiting for Guffman," IMO that's the weakest of the mockumentaries I've seen. I actually think community theater is too easy to satirize. Whatever it was, it just didn't do it for me.
I'd love to see Guest and Company do a mockumentary on "Show Biz Moms and Dads." Have you seen that show on A&E? It's on Tuesdays and boy howdy, they actually don't need a mockumentary because most of these people, both parents and kids, are funny enough as it is. But I think they could do some hilarious things with child beauty pageants and kids/adolescents trying to get into show business. In some ways, Reality TV is using up all the good ideas for mockumentaries, lol.
Last word on "A Mighty Wind," I actually like the song, "When I'm Standing Next To You." It's not the one with the kiss, which is perfect in its cloying lyrics and music, but rather the one that first plays over the credits. I sing it when I'm washing the dishes and I think Eugene Levy's voice especially is really lovely (he wrote it). Whoda thunk it?
Rgirl
I've tried to find a copy but I don't think it was released on video in the UK)
