Review of This Is Spinal Tap (1984) by Nick O — 20 Nov 2010

There's a certain grain of salt to take cult movies with, and for the first time since vastly lesser films (though not without their odd fun) such as "Troll 2" and "The Room" came about "This Is Spinal Tap" finds most of its comedy excellence between the lines.

This U.K. band, stripped and beaten yet who hold their heads like newcomers, director Rob Reiner captures as, let's face it, buffoons. Watch each player, each one-man show, how they willingly butt heads if not just to live the classic grunge life our country has come to idolize as something built on rises and falls, albeit lulls of creativity.

"This Is Spinal Tap" is a perfect embodiment not only of that rock-and-roll fantasy, nor the difficulty of making it to the top only to race back down to the bottom: it's a stitch of a longed-after culture lost forever.

Reiner doesn't take the story to days where hair rock was beat-- he lets the story live it firsthand.