"Nothing is quite as it seems in Incident at Loch Ness, an entertaining pseudo-documentary comment
on cinematic fakery. Conceived and directed
by Hollywood screenwriter Zak Penn, this half-clever ruse
begins with a master-stroke by casting
German director Werner Herzog as himself,
preparing to film a documentary about Scotland's mysterious Loch Ness monster.
As this film-within-a-film is chronicled by a documentary crew
led by renowned cinematographer John Bailey, "producer" Penn
rises to apparently impossible heights of ineptitude,
until it becomes obvious (indeed, it's the film's near-fatal flaw)
that there is no "reality" here at all--just a very amusing pile-up
of falsehoods. Penn's onto something good here,
and Herzog is by far the film's greatest asset, maintaining
a credible commitment to the ruse with a hilarious and fiercely believable
performance. Still, the ideas at play are better than Penn's execution
of them, so you'll have to play along, in Blair Witch fashion,
even after the film's ploy becomes clear. Penn and Herzog
provide a worthwhile commentary track,
adding another layer of observation
to Penn's multilayered con game." --Jeff Shannon
