It's a milestone in American comedy cinema.
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01/01/00
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
96
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:49
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Comedies
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... [More]
Starring: Spinal Tap, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer
Director: Rob Reiner
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Reviews for This Is Spinal Tap
Reiner's brilliantly inventive script and smart visuals avoid all the obvious pitfalls, making this one of the funniest ever films about the music business.
02/09/06
...a superbly executed, whimsical fit of improvisation and cinema verite pastiche that so convincingly created an awful '70s-'80s heavy metal band that the band itself lived on beyond the movie.
04/17/01
There had been countless documentary spoofs before This Is Spinal Tap, but this inspired put-on was the first to actually capture the texture and style of real documentary.
03/20/08
It hardly ever gets more spot-on than this.
01/01/00
The film is a composite of classic moments, all of which we sense could have happened to any of the classic heavy metal bands -- or at least to those whose members combined delusions of greatness with low I.Q.s.
08/15/02
Top CriticReiner’s brilliant “rockumentary” sends up its subject matter and the documentary form, with such deft perception that confusing it with the genuine article is an easy mistake to make.
01/01/00
A mediocre satire of heavy rock bands.
08/21/04
Scores an 11 (out of 10) for sheer inspired lunacy but it's the writers' unexpected fondness for their subject matter that puts the film in a class all its own.
10/18/08
The story of an embarrasingly inept heavy-metal band called Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner's film set the mockumentary standard that has come to define much of modern screen comedy. [Blu-ray]
07/28/09
Quite possibly the funniest spoof of all time.
12/10/01
For all its japes and jokes, the movie is really about exhaustion of the spirit: sitting in a bleak hotel suite at 4 a.m. with the bad taste of last night in the mouth and the feeling that tomorrow will not be a better day.
08/19/08
Top CriticThis Is Spinal Tap,"the funniest rock 'n' roll movie ever made...
01/01/00
Perhaps the reason for the film’s acceptance in rock ‘n roll 'insider' circles is its ultimately affectionate vibe. Reiner obviously loves his leather-jacketed bunch, even as they walk into one land mine after another.
01/01/00
The satire has a deft, wicked touch.
01/01/00
Top CriticFirst of all, let's just clarify something: This Is Spinal Tap is the funniest film ever made.
01/01/00
THIS IS SPINAL TAP is simply one of the greatest rockumentaries ever...
01/01/00
Perhaps the best known mockumentary of the 1980s...
01/01/00
The material is consistently clever and funny, though ultimately the attitudes are too narrow to nourish a feature-length film.
12/17/07
Top CriticAlthough the movie is hilarious, I think it is the undeniable human nature of the loser characters that has kept the movie alive for so long.
02/27/01
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August 16, 2006:
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