Many people have attempted mock documentaries; or mockumentaries; but no one has done it better than the talents behind this film and two other classics, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN and BEST IN SHOW. Rob Reiner, playing a fictitious doc maker, follows fake metal band Spinal Tap during their tour to promote their new album, "Smell the Glove." The film works more as a low-key satire than a laugh-a-minute comedy fest. The film deftly skewers bad rock lyrics, pompous star attitudes, rotating band members, kitschy style changes, and feuding bandmates.
Spinal Tap is made up of lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean, BEST IN SHOW), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, THE PRINCESS BRIDE), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, TV's THE SIMPSONS) and a rotating drummer, a position plagued by freakish accidents. Over the years, there has been a professional rivalry between David and Nigel, an unspoken tension on who is the true artistic center of the group. Derek is content to just bask in their genius. However, the long simmering tensions come to a head when David's girlfriend Jeanine Pettibone (June Chadwick, TV's V) bring her astrology into band decisions, which pushes the band's manager Ian Faith (Tony Hendra, JUMPIN' JACK FLASH) to the brink.
Various scenes have become classics, including the mini-sandwich, the pod and Stonehenge mishaps, and going to 11 on the dial scenes. Much of the humor comes from the band members' cocky oblivion in the face of their true minor status in the world of heavy metal music. Reiner and his band of merry melody mockers are not just satirizing rock stars, but anyone whose main goal is to seek fame, while pretending to be an artist. This is all done with perfect attention to detail for the various rock clichés, from their overactive libidos to their diva-like demands.
However, what really sells the film is the brilliant characterizations from McKean, Guest and Shearer. Their performances are so dead on and the music is played so convincingly that it has lead to the misconception that the band was real. McKean, Guest, Reiner and Shearer also wrote the songs, which consist of hilariously cheesy sexual innuendoes. The film is filled with cameos from young actors who have now become stars like Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Ed Begley Jr., Fran Drescher, Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer and Anjelica Huston. Make sure to watch the film the whole way through because the last scene with Nigel at the end of the credits is one of the funniest in the film.
Buy "This is Spinal Tap" Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
