Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 09/12/2000
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 83 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Largely improvised by director
Rob Reiner and his cast,
This Is Spinal Tap looks and sounds like a "real"
documentary, with
Michael McKean,
Harry Shearer, and
Christopher Guest as
David St. Hubbins,
Derek Smalls, and
Nigel Tufnel, the key members of a going-nowhere British
heavy metal band called
Spinal Tap. The "group" started as an informal skiffle band, eventually maturing into an
R&B act called the Thamesmen (their hit was
"Gimme Some Money"). After going through a
psychedelic period with
"Listen to the Flower People," the band mutated into
Spinal Tap, a
hard rock outfit responsible for such albums as
"Intravenous DeMilo," "The Sun Never Sweats," and
"Bent for the Rent." This Is Spinal Tap finds them in the midst of their first American tour in years as they support their new LP
Smell the Glove, with filmmaker
Marty DiBergi (
Rob Reiner), who specializes in TV commercials, on hand to document the occasion. Just about anything that can go wrong does: shows get canceled, stage props go wrong, wireless guitar pickups start broadcasting air-traffic reports, no one shows up for in-store appearances,
David's girlfriend tries to take over the band, they wind up billed second to a puppet show at an amusement park, and the group teeters on the verge of breakup. After the film's initial release,
McKean,
Guest, and
Shearer did a short club tour as
Spinal Tap; the "band" reunited in 1992 for a new album,
Break Like the Wind, followed by a full-fledged tour and TV special,
The Return of Spinal Tap.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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