Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7935 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Synopsis
A brilliant and hilarious documentary-style satire of a has-been British heavy metal band who never really was on an absurd American comeback tour that never quite gets off the ground, THIS IS SPINAL TAP practically birthed the mockumentary style. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer are David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls, respectively--three clueless, self-absorbed men who form the nucleus of Spinal Tap, aging purveyors of overwrought songs with titles such as "Big Bottom," "Smell the Glove," and "Sex Farm." Shot in faux cinema verite-style with director Rob Reiner as fictional filmmaker Marty DiBergi, the film lampoons just about every rock & roll cliche (not to mention every rockumentary cliche) in the book as it follows these fallen rock idols from one disastrous gig to the next. Scenes of the tour's descent from desperation into total collapse are interspersed with interviews in which the band members delightfully prattle on inanely about the none-too-illustrious history and dubious vision of Spinal Tap. THIS IS SPINAL TAP is a striking and acutely hysterical directorial debut for Reiner and a deserved cult classic. Watch for an endless array of cameos by wonderful comic character actors along the way.

Customer Reviews

Sex and drugs and mock and roll...
Did Elton John watch this before making Tantrums and Tiaras? Did Madonna see it before making 'In Bed with Madonna'? Have Metallica watched this before releasing `Metallica' (the black album)? Did U2 see this before visiting Graceland in Rattle and Hum? Have Velvet Revolver watched it before forming a band?

The humour throughout Spinal Tap is dry and observed rather than slapstick in your face and that is fine by me. Hissy fits about food, on stage pompous prop failure, the tuning of a violin used during a guitar solo, radio interference on stage, the constant replacement of drummers, getting lost on the way to the stage, the revival of the career in Japan, amplifiers that go to eleven, all the jokes and clichés are there, in fact I think this film may have invented a few.

In much the same way that the British TV series `Drop the Dead donkey' character Damien Day successfully lampooned cliché overly self important `on the spot' news reporters, to the point where I struggle to take these `news hounds' seriously, I find it hard to take most TV `Rockumentary' programmes seriously as a result of Spinal Tap. Musicians and producers talking to camera about their `work' just isn't the same.

Both influenced and influencing Spinal Tap is a work of comedy genius. Not many films have dialogue that enter the language, the phrase `its all a bit spinal tap' I have heard used in the media on countless occasions, and will be for years to come. There is little funnier in film or television when life imitates art, and art then imitates life to this degree. If we can see it, why can't they? All you need to enjoy this is a sense of humour.

It's a fine line between stupid and clever,
Spinal Tap. Not your everyday mulleted metal-rockers -- oh no, they're the loudest band in the world.

Or so says Marti DiBergi (played with a straight face by director Rob Reiner), in a hysterical "rockumentary" that focuses on the dumber side of rock'n'roll. "This is Spinal Tap" has become the quintessential rock'n'roll movie -- full of strangely lifelike jokes, gigantic hair, annoying girlfriends, hilarious acting, and a many an exploding drummer from time to time.

Spinal Tap, the loudest band in Britain, is returning to the US for the first time in years to promote their new album, "Smell The Glove." Trailing behind them is DiBergi, capturing every strange moment on film and interviewing the solemnly strange trio that makes up the core, Nigel (Christopher Guest), Derek (Harry Shearer), and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean). Their many drummers have died in a series of bizarre freak accidents (including the vague "gardening accident"), choking on someone else's vomit, and spontaneous combustion).

Charting the history of the band (including psychedelic rock) to the present, DiBergi chronicles the controversy that springs up around "Smell the Glove"'s sexist cover ("What's wrong with being sexy?" "Sex-IST!"). After bizarre mishaps (a Stonehenge set the size of a cat), waning popularity and falling sales, the manager quits in anger and Nigel walks out. Is it the end of Spinal Tap?

One of the funniest ways make something funny is to stay really, really close to reality -- and that is where "This is Spinal Tap" strikes gold. It sticks JUST close enough to be semi-accurate, but remains just on the outside line of comedy -- basically, if you like laughtracks, gross-out humour and pratfalls, this isn't your kind of movie.

The humor is all the funnier because it's delivered in a deadpan manner: Nigel's amp that "goes to 11," the cucumber incident, or when Derek gets trapped in a plastic pod, and has to be freed via a desperate roadie with a blowtowtorch. And sprinkled in between are little interviews between DiBergi and the band, littered with hilarious quotables ("It's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water").

In fact, Reiner manages to craft a very believable rock'n'roll world, complete with label controversies, Sinatra-loving chauffeurs, groupies and frequent technical malfunctions. And the music... hoo boy, just try not to laugh at "Gimme Some Money," "Sex Farm," "Listen To The Flower People," and the sidesplitting "Big Bottom" ("Big bottoms drive me out of my mind/how could I leave that behind?"). Not to mention Nigel's ghastly Druid monologue.

And rock in-jokes are sprinkled liberally through the movie. There are homages to Black Sabbath (the teeny Stonehenge), Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin (playing a guitar with a violin), and countless other little jokes. Even Jeanine is based on famed rock girlfriends like Yoko Ono and Anita Pallenberg.

As for the actors... well, reportedly they made up a lot of their dialogue on the wing, which might explain why they are so unspeakably funny. You'd almost think they were real -- in fact, a few uninformed people have.

Guest and McKean form the core of the story, as the lovably clueless Nigel ("It's one louder") and the savvier, too-influenced-by-his-girlfriend David. These guys really rule the screen with their rambling dialogue and gigantic hair. The hairy Harry Shearer is less front-and-center, but both he's pretty funny too -- as is Reiner, who somehow manages to keep a straight face through it all.

"This is Spinal Tap" is the ultimate rock movie -- a funny, deadpan, wittily mocking little look at the world's loudest band. A treasure.

Great comedy, but waited for better packaging
This is a certainly a classic movie with tons of funny stuff (American actors imitating English accents, the infamous "drummer problem" since then, cover artwork conflict, "Stone'enge" stage incident among others) that is viewable again and again. However, the publisher did little to treat customers right, as there are no subtitles, no bonus material, just a copy of the original VHS tape to DVD. I was somewhat disappointed by that, so I would suggest prospective customers to turn to a better packaged release.