100%

Fresh

Bob Roberts (1992)

As played by Tim Robins, Bob Roberts is sort of a cross between Joe McCarthy and Woody Guthrie: a demagogue disguised as a guitar-playing populist. This mock record of Roberts' run for a Pennsylvania senate seat has moments that would seem ludicrous were they not so similar to many modern political campaigns. Roberts sings songs that lampoon progressives while extolling greed; his ingratiating affect does much to disguise his mean-spiritedness. Bob Roberts features some hilarious Bob Dylan parodies, as well as a host of well-played small roles (including John Cusack, Susan Sarandon, James Spader, and, in his debut, Jack Black). Robbins may be an avowed left-winger, but his film is less a shot at conservatives than a satire of the ways in which politics has become another form of show business, with the mass media complicit in the spin cycle. "A sort of political This Is Spinal Tap, Bob Roberts is both a stimulating social satire and, for thinking people, a depressing commentary on the devolution of the American political system," wrote Todd McCarthy of Variety.

100%

Fresh

Forgotten Silver (1995)

Before joining the ranks of superstar directors with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, Peter Jackson (and co-director Costa Botes) made this fake tribute to Colin McKenzie, a non-existent New Zealand film pioneer and inventor. In Forgotten Silver, Jackson claims that his discovery of McKenzie's work proves he's the creator of modern film, with color and sound among his many cinematic innovations; in addition, Jackson "unearthed" pieces of McKenzie's greatest achievement, an epic adaptation of the tale of Salome. The movie's fake interviews and recreated archive footage were so effective that many viewers were stunned to learn it wasn't real; indeed, Jackson subsequently made a 30-minute follow-up, Behind the Bull, to address Forgotten Silver's perplexed audience. "Quite aside from being perhaps the most elaborate prank in Jackson's career to date (or since), Forgotten Silver is a brilliant piece of moviemaking," wrote Rob Rob Gonsalves of efilmcritic.com.

85%

Fresh

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project was a word-of-mouth sensation before the term "viral marketing" entered the mainstream lexicon. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez' low-budget, monster-free creepshow -- purported to be found footage from three documentarians who were killed in the woods of Maryland on the trail of a legendary local apparition -- was passed off as the real thing, and their guerrilla campaign was met with an alarming amount of credulity. It didn't hurt that the film's stars expertly improvised their way through many ominous scenarios, each time reacting with a level of increased terror that's hard to fake. Equally effective (or stomach-churning, depending on one's point of view) was the shaky, hand-held camerawork shot by the participants, which heightened the feeling of impending doom. "The movie's unfinished, catch-as-catch-can look, complete with jiggly camerawork and sometimes blurred imagery, is one of the primary reasons it's so disturbing and creepy," wrote James Sanford of the Kalamazoo Gazette. (Click here for more on the making of the film from Myrick and Sánchez.)

91%

Fresh

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Disarmingly clueless, heedlessly goofy, and loaded with prejudice, Sacha Baron Cohen's alter ego Borat is quite a character. And by passing himself off as a TV journalist from Kazakhstan, Cohen was able to elicit some remarkably frank (and stunningly boneheaded) admissions from his subjects. Borat takes the form of a road movie, with its protagonist meeting well-known politicians and average folks across the USA while on a mission to meet (and hopefully wed) a certain Baywatch babe. Some find themselves bemused by this odd stranger, while others end up revealing a dark strain of intolerance in the American psyche. Borat is a serious work of social criticism," wrote Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "but it's also the funniest movie I've ever seen."

78%

Fresh

Surf's Up (2007)

While most mockumentaries purport to tell "real" stories, the genre is remarkably flexible. Case in point: Surf's Up, a CGI feature that documents the trials and tribulations of a surfing penguin. Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) is a loner in Antarctica, where his obsession with riding the waves are mocked by his penguin peers. Surf's Up follows Cody as he prepares to compete against a number of talented birds in Big Z Memorial Surf Off, named for Cody's boyhood idol. The film parodies sports programming, talking-heads docs, and surf films like The Endless Summer; it's remarkably sophisticated for a kids flick, but never forgets to entertain. "Many of the riffs in the mock documentary might be lost on little tykes, but the film's feel-good message of perseverance, friendship and finding your own wave should be enjoyed by all," wrote Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times.

Take a look through the rest of our Total Recall archives. And don't forget to check out the reviews for Bruno.

Finally, we leave you with Swiss Spaghetti Harvest, an April Fool's Day joke aired by the BBC in 1957 that's considered to be one of the first mockumentaries: