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I went to see this movie in a film festival. All I heard was that Werner Herzog was involved, and assuming it was his new documentary I went to it. At first I was fascinated: a documentary about Herzog making a documentary, examinging the 'ecstatic truth' of people who need to believe in fantastic creatures. It took about five minutes to realise that the film is not a documentary but an elaborate joke.

This film was apalling. What starts as a possibly interesting documentary turns into a Spinal-Tap mocumentary. Now, that's obviously the point, this is Herzog mocking himself, perhaps shattering the illusion of his pretentious aura. But it's delivered in the most turgid manner. Writer/director/actor Zack Penn cannot write comedy, at least from this shambolic endeavour. He uses one joke throughout the entire film (someone speaking in film cliches, only for it to be destroyed by the reality of the actual event) and even that is wasted quickly. It's sadly ironic that Penn couldn't even write himself.

The only worthy element is Herzog's performance, which is surprisingly naturalistic. Besides that, this film is so dry and limited I felt both furous and depressed. The latter is due to Herzog demeaning himself. His entire output of film is "pretentious" (although moslty brilliant), why is he doing this? I'm sure his documentaries will remain pretentious, so what's the point mocking his concept of the ecstatic truth if he will continue to pursue it? It's a worthy pursuit in the first place, so why mock it at all? Plus, does he really think his fan base is so large to make a film attacking preconceptions of him?

Apparently Herzog is going to act in Penn's next project. I really hope this friendship will end soon. Even Herzog's least enjoyable material is vastly more watcheable than this. I can only hope that it will fail to receive significant distribution.