This Is Spinal Tap [1984] | ![This Is Spinal Tap [1984]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MSyKGXgPL._SL75_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Rob Reiner
Actors: Andrew Divoff, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, June Chadwick
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £4.50
You Save: £11.49 (72%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1079
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 80
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5055201802651
ASIN: B000Z63ZAG
Theatrical Release Date: 1984
Release Date: February 11, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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but... May 7, 2008
they REALLY played their instruments......brilliant as a movie. positively hysterical if you are a musician.
It's a fine line between stupid and clever, February 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
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