Encore Movie: This is Spinal Tap (1984)

I had intended on seeing This is Spinal Tap some point last week or on the weekend, but then we had 2 poll winners and I was away for the weekend. Whatever the reasons, it simply didn't happen, but this was always a mockumentary that I really wanted to see. I've heard a lot of things about this movie throughout my life, but I still wasn't sure what to expect. I was looking forward to seeing it so much, that I decided to watch it, spur of the moment style, right after I finished watching Best in Show. I just really wanted to see a good mockumentary after sitting through that movie. Hit the jump to see if this one fared any better.


If you didn't know already, Spinal Tap is a fictional band that this film purports to be documenting their first American tour in 6 years. It has interviews with the band members, behind the scenes footage of the concerts, and even concert segments in which we see the band perform.

Their amps go to 11!

Similarly to Best in Show, there are a number of actors that I can recognize, in fact several of them were also in Best in Show, such as Michael McKean. There are several actors that I only recognized because of all the movies I watch. For example, normally I wouldn't have thought anything about the limo driver in Spinal Tap, but I know now that Bruno Kirby was Harry's best friend in When Harry Met Sally... oh yeah, and Billy Crystal has a super small bit part in here as well! The difference between this movie and that one are how people are "disguised" so well. I didn't even recognize Michael McKean for the longest time, and I had JUST seen him in Best in Show!

This IS Spinal Tap!

The other difference is that this movie is just a little bit more clever in its humour. I can't put my finger on it though. It could be that it had some leftover 80's greatness, or the absurdity of what the band was like, and yet it still seemed to work. For the most part at least. Almost every single character was weird, but in a good way. They always had my full attention and it also helped that their band never really existed, as that made everything about them brand new to me. Yet somehow, I could totally believe they were real.

The songs they sing are surprisingly good quality. I'm just really curious where they came from, and if they just made up the songs just for this movie. I especially recognized the first song they played "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight". Even just the title brings a big smile to my face.

I liked this movie, and I was glad I finally got around to seeing it. It had just enough silliness to keep it funny, but just enough realism that makes you really feel like Spinal Tap is a real band from the 80's. If you like 80's rock, check this movie out, I think you'll get a kick out of it.