Constructed Chinese-box style as a series of films within films, with a faked one about the Loch Ness monster at the center, "Incident" will have maximum impact for the first auds to catch it before its sly central joke gets out.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by Dave Kehr
These blatantly comic characters undercut the credibility established by Mr. Herzog's naturalistic performance, and sink the horror premise as quickly as it surfaces.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Starts cleverly but becomes more preposterous as it goes along.
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
Herzog, who deadpans his way through the high jinks, is the best thing about the movie, but even he gets wearisome before Nessie has sunk the boat.
It's actually a clever commentary on documentary filmmaking, an pretty good monster movie to boot.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
An amusing mock documentary that spends considerable energy artfully trying to make you believe it's real as real can be. The movie is transparently a fake, but its counterfeit nature is the heart of its charm.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
The film slowly sheds its convincing identity as nonfiction and becomes a cruel parody of making-of docs, studio-movie pandering, and showbiz egomania.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Incident at Loch Ness, unfortunately, is a riddle wrapped in a hoax stuffed inside a crock.
Razor sharp and funny as hell, Incident at Loch Ness is the harpoon hurled into the hot-air balloon of reality entertainment.
Can be taken as a parable about cinema art vs. commerce. If that's too much to think about, just enjoy the off-beat humor.