Review of This Is Spinal Tap (1984) by Simeon T — 10 Jul 2015

Not as consistently funny as its reputation, but.... this is one of very, very few movies which can lay claim to having scenes at the same level as Monty Python and the Holy grail. The Stonehenge scene in particular is one of the greatest in the history of film comedy. Spinal Tap can also be credited as giving birth to the bountiful mockumentary genre, and the members of Spinal Tap have continued the gag adroitly far beyond the release of the film.

As some have mentioned, while Spinal Tap may be an ingeniously ridiculous creation the Spinal Tap movie isn't just a gagfest. It is even more so a picture of burnout, symbolic of the burnout of American rock and roll culture at the time yes, but more specifically of the physical and emotional burnout of the band members, amid an aimless playing out the string. There are entire stretches of the movie that lag, which is why I've rated Spinal Tap slightly lower than Guffman and Best in Show. The draggy pace and empty sections may be for a purpose, but that purpose isn't comedy, which this movie at its best does better than nearly any other. Other movies can show how drab and exhausting being on tour can be; only Spinal Tap can produce the volume, visuals, and yes, odor, of rock culture at its most riotously (at times almost endearingly) stupid, boorish and neanderthal. When it does, it soars, headbangs and thrusts its way down from comedy heaven.