Review of Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008) by Frederick M — 11 Dec 2009

Anvil: The Story of Anvil is more or less a real life version of "This is Spinal Tap" Two guys in their fifites, Lips and Robb Reiner are still living the dream that they had as teenagers, to become international rock superstars. Take "This is Spinnal Tap" and add a dash of "Almost Famous" and the essence of Jack Black and you have "Anvil".

It's hard not to root for these guys who have been trying for 40 years to become big but haven't had the chance because of lousy management, poor production on their albums and in-fighting between Lips and Reiner. The band tries to overcome these adversities while working day jobs to support themselves. Lips works at a catering company for local schools in Southern Ontario. Both have the essence of teenage rockers who never grew up. You have to give these guys credit because they simply will not let their dream die.

One scene which was particularly sad was Lips the aging rocker trying to work at a telemarketing firm as a cold call salesman selling sunglasses. The point is that he'll do almost anything to raise enough money so he can get his next album professionally produced.

The editing in the movie is shoddy at times. I'm sure there's a few tricks here and there with the timeline of the events in the movie but I don't think that takes anything away from this movie. The stars are Lips and Reiner who enbody the rockstar dream that many people have as kids. The difference is that these guys won't give it up!