This Is Spinal Tap

All rock music fans need to watch this. I was laughing so hard, especially at the "Big Bottom" performance scene. I love the flashback scenes to the band's early days too, it reminds me of Led Zeppelin, back when Jimmy Page was in The Yardbirds.

A subtly funny and intimate little movie. However, having been told about how good this movie was until my ears dropped off, having seen it referenced on innumerable occasions, and having watched the Spinal Tap-episode of the Simpsons, I kind of anticipated a comedic legend, one of the funniest movies in the history of movie-making, but the buildup turned out to be too big for the actual movie. Ideally you would have seen this at 15, an age when rock 'n' roll still really mattered, and when it came out in 1984, at a time when tediously pompous rock bands in spandex were still all the rage and hip hop and "alternative" music were still in the offing. Watching it two decades too late makes it appear a bit dated, and the jokes aren't that hard-hitting either.

Especially with the garbage music these days, Boy Bands, etc, this Movie Just Gets Better and Better. When it first came out, i was still into Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Deep Purple, Santana, Ten Years After... and I thought this Movie was kinda stupid...

Having watch all those vapid rock documentaries over the years, I've absorbed the style that appears. The great strength of this is that it is always understated. Spinal Tap is going on a reunion concert and is being followed by cameras. First of all, the concert scenes are wonderful, out of an era. They are often clueless about the world they inhabit. There are so many hilarious bits I can't enumerate. For example, the complaining about the sandwich meat and the size of the bread in their dressing room. The discussion of the album cover. On and on. It is the marvelous Christopher Guest troupe and the do the whole thing proud. I'm glad I saw it again after 35 years.

I absolutely adore this movie, is unbelievably funny and realistic in so many ways in regards to the life of a rock star. I've seen it many times and gets funnier and funnier every time I watch it. One of my favorite scenes is the airport scene with Derek and the metal detectors, It so freakin funny I love it. One of my favorite comedies of all time, it really is a beauty, because it's one louder, definitely a rating of 11/10.

Spinal Tap seemed funny the first time I saw it, but I never got all the jokes. Now though, I saw it through and through and I loved it even more (especially on DVD where the extras are hilarious). Nearly every gag in the movie is dead pan funny, from the cover of "Smell the Glove" (just the description will make you laugh) to all the others including the three piece guitar solo, the animal costumes ("this is what you'll look like as a crab" is the funniest line of the 80's next to "Frank, they're not here for you, Weird Al is on the plane" in Naked Gun), the backstage food, (of course) the amp that goes to 11 and the 18 inch stonehenge. Satire at one of it's best, and it's excellent. Cameos include Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Paul Schaffer and Anjelica Houston. Other best line: you can not do free flow jazz odyssey in front of a festival crowd! A+