The Majesty of Rock.

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2003)

"This is Spinal Tap!" is simply more than a film as any owner of the special edition DVD will tell you. The concept and whole project is frankly marvellous, whether it is the "Heavy Metal Memories" spoof boxset advert or the apeing of the 1965 ish Beatles in their "Listen to the Flower People" press conference.
The humour works on many levels in this film, and yet it all derives from the fact that the band are a bunch of "washed up, brain dead, 4 chord rockers". Who can forget the Puppet Show getting top billing? Or the fact that the Tap thought having a bigger dressing room than the puppets was some kind of victory?
"This is Spinal Tap" COULD be a documentary, if all the rock anecdotes are to believed, and so, the guilty pleasure of seeing a bunch of 40 somethings spewing garbage, self important philosophy whilst carrying on like the aristocracy of rock is something the people who read or seen interviews of rock bands can relate to.
The music certainly doesn't let down the jokes with some great performances of songs that, in some cases, surpasses the genres it mocks or imitates.
The true indication of Spinal Tap's greatness is not what they took and pariodied from Rock, but what Rock took from them, Amps that go past ten and Metallica's "black album" immediately come to mind.
Funniest film ever? Maybe, Maybe Not. Best Concept ever? Quite Possibly