Review of This Is Spinal Tap (1984) by Dawdlingpoet — 19 May 2022

There's some pretty amusing dialogue (one quote I remember being 'you ponce about like a bunch of hairdressers!') the song names are amusing enough and it certainly seemed pretty authentic, like a fly-on-the-wall documentary (or rockumentary, as they say).

It's maybe a bit like an 'MTV Diary Of' show perhaps, only without the talking heads aspect. It's certainly an 80s film and it obviously has a strong 1980s feel to it - the brand being very much portrayed as an '80s hair band.

It's kind of ludicrous in an excessive parody kind of a way but its also very much a good bit of silly fun. It looks like everyone enjoyed making the film, from what you can tell and that somehow makes watching it more enjoyable too. I hadn't realised (until I read the credits) that it was co-written by Harry Shearer (who does various Simpsons voices). The 'philosophical 80s rocker' (surely that's a contradiction in terms?) is a new one on me but there you go!. This is, I believe, a cult classic and certainly I thought it was an enjoyable parody film, in the same way as 'Airplane!' is a very good parody, or send up, of disaster films. I would definitely recommend this film, primarily for fans of 80s rock and roll/hair band groups (Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Van Halen etc.).