I’m saying this right off the bat, because I think it will really pay off for you: Watch This Is Spinal Tap right before heading to the cinema to see Spinal Tap II! Not only will you rediscover the amazing original, but you will be perfectly primed for the new film. No excuses. Do it. I wager it will double your enjoyment of the new film.
Forty years after Rob Reiner launched Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer into stardom (real and fictional), they are all back with a darn good follow-up to an iconic classic that changed movies, music, and the sitcom format forever. The expectations for a film like this are impossible, and I’m sure clever reviewers are having fun taking the film down with élan. But I think, given the size and variety of the audience expectations, the filmmakers did a really great job of delivering on them.
As always, I’m thinking in terms of genre. While the original film basically invented the mockumentary, it would not be enough to rinse and repeat in 2025. And so this film takes cues from contemporary docs—like a much greater onscreen presence for Rob Reiner as the director. This Is Spinal Tap charted the falling out of the group, and so this chapter has a very slight falling-together story. Minor characters and major celebrities get cameos, and only one new character (Chris Addison’s Simon Howler) never really takes off…or, more accurately, never really lands. How the sequel follows the “tragic drummers” storyline from the original is a special highlight, and I (who can usually never tell what makes a drummer “good”) long to watch more of Spinal Tap’s new drummer displaying true virtuosity.
But, in 2025, one must reckon with the fact that although Spinal Tap is a fictional band, they have legions of very real fans. And, so, the film is also in large part a real celebration of the music, characters, and actors from the first film. This movie is an honest nostalgia piece, and that celebratory earnestness no doubt turns many serious reviewers off in the age of bitter ironic snark. I, on the other hand, am fascinated by the way the movie straddles and combines genres and objectives, balancing the usual Guest & Co. improv with a real tribute to a fake band and their music who have more or less “become real boys” over forty years of pop culture references.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is sometimes genuinely hilarious and other times an honest testament to the legacy of the 1984 film. It’s simply great fun, and I can’t wait to see what special features we’ll be treated to on the blu-ray!