I just had to come spread this love. This is a 2007 comedy, primarily improved and then filmed, and it has more character actors, ‘names’, and ‘Hey I know that guy!’ than anything I’ve seen lately. The Grand (2007) - IMDb
It’s a ‘mockumentary’ following the 6 final players of a national poker tournament, and I can’t stop laughing. 
If you see this on tv, or for rent, or whatever <sadly, Netflix doesn’t have it> watch it. You won’t be disappointed. :p:p
I bought it on an impulse and have never regretted it.
Huh.
I knew I’d seen director Zak Penn’s name plenty of times, so I looked at his page to see his credits and it seems I know him only as a screenwriter . . .
. . . but his only other director credit is also a “Mockumentary” and it too seems like it could be awesome.
Incident at Loch Ness
In documentary style, it follows filmmaker Werner Herzog as he himself is making his own documentary about the Loch Ness Monster!!!
The notes on IMDB say that Zak Penn and Werner Herzog do the DVD commentary in character.
Sorry, but that just sounds awesome. I’ll have to check out both these films.
And now I’m going to have to go find Loch Ness, thanks for digging around!
If you find it before I do, please report back!
Well they do have it at Amazon for sale http://www.amazon.com/Incident-Loch-Ness-John-Bailey/dp/B0006UEVNQ
I shall do other kinds of digging, though.
I found a copy of the Loch Ness movie in swedish internetspace, and shall watch it this weekend!
In other news, The Grand is showing Thursday night, but I don’t know which channel. We have the most basic of cable; in fact, I am not sure it’s even cable, so it’s probably on one of the regular channels. I have to make my dad watch it, again, 'cause he left halfway through and won’t let me tell him any spoilers, despite the fact that there was no real way he was ever going to be able to watch it again. But now…boom! Which is good, 'cause I REALLY wanted to tell him, haha.
I found The Grand and Incident at Loch Ness for about $3 each (and free shipping since I was getting other stuff). So, I figured- why not?
I watched Incident at Loch Ness last night and may watch The Grand tonight.
Incident at Loch Ness was great. As a “mockumentary” it plays much more straight than any of Christopher Guest’s moc films- comparably, there aren’t nearly as many laugh out loud moments but it’s enjoyable the whole way through. Unlike Guest’s films, I could see somebody watching this film thinking it was an entirely legit documentary (until a point).
Zack Penn’s fictional version of himself is such an asshole, it’s great. Herzog is presented as having genuine integrity as a film artist- watching him subjected to Zak Penn as Producer bringing all the worst Hollywood bullshit into the project is really really funny.
Herzog and Penn do a commentary in character as their film versions of themselves- playing it as if the events of the film were real. So far, I’ve only watched the film through straight. I’m looking forward to watching with the commentary.
I had never heard of this, but did watch a chunk of it a few weeks ago while I was working out at the gym. This means that it does air, occasionally on basic cable. I’m sure it does get watered down a bit, so probably best to see it on disc or such.
I did end up watching The Grand the other night and really liked it. This one is more comparable to the Christopher Guest improvised mockumentaries than Incident at Loch Ness. Comparable to Christopher Guest films in style- the humor is a bit different, but the improvised mockumentary style is very similar.
I think I enjoyed Werner Herzog’s acting appearance in The Grand so much more because I had just watched Loch Ness the night before.
I’ve never watched Curb Your Enthusiasm nor have I ever had any other opportunities to enjoy Cheryl Hines, but she is a great comic actress and ridiculously sexy.
It’s cool knowing that the final Poker game is played for real- no spoiler box since this is pretty much the opposite of a spoiler. With most movies you can either predict the winner as the main character or you’re hit with a “twist” (which may also be predictable). With this movie, since the game was played for real, even the writer/director and the actors didn’t know who was going to win! So, watching the film there’s added anticipation.