Werner Herzog Looking for the Loch Ness Monster

Plot-spoiler warning: I think that watching this movie is more fun if the viewer doesn't know what it is, and that anyone who enjoys Werner Herzog documentaries and/or commentary tracks should screen it without reading anything by me or anyone else about "Incident at Loch Ness."

OK, that was the warning! If you don't buy pigs in pokes and want to know what you'd be getting into and seeing in this movie, read on:

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"Incident at Loch Ness " (2004), written and directed by Zak Penn, stars Werner Herzog playing himself, is a deadpan mockumentary (Lochumentary?). Herzog sounds very much like he does in the commentary tracks and bonus interviews of his own movies and in documentaries about him such as "Burden of Dreams," Les Blank's astonishing portrayal of the making of "Fitzcarraldo."

Playing the producer of a movie about going to Scotland and trying to find "Nessie," Penn gave himself some good lines, but lacks the resonances Herzog has as the often-annoyed director who is lied to over and over and over again by the producer played by Zack Penn who is a screenwriter and sometimes movie producer in the onscreen documentary. This venial producer also sets up hokey "reality," not least an attach by Nessie.

I find the "cryptozoologist" expert (Michael Karnow) particularly lame, though I can tell he is supposed to be a Whimsical Comic Creation. One of his many eccentricities is that he never washes his clothes (to prevent "fiber deterioration"). Kitana Baker straining a bikini (and the suspense of whether it can hold her in) may entertain some viewers. (And the DVD extras go further both in the expert's eccentricities and in getting Baker out of the bikini...)

I'd think that the movie would be of limited interest to those unfamiliar with Herzog's movies and his commentaries about them. It's much better than "The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou" at least! or "Beware the Holy Wh*re." (Faint praise in both instances It's not anywhere close to being as good as "Being John Malkovich" or "My Best Friend, Klaus Kinski" "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" or "Lessons of Darkness" are.)

DVD cover

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Copyright: 20th Century Fox