Cult-status? What? Why?

Rating: 5/10 (2 August 2006)

Hack documentarian DiBergi (played by director Rob Reiner himself) follows 1980s glitter rock band 'Spinal Tap' behind the stage as they are launched into a Unites States tour.
I've had numerous friends recommend me This is Spinal Tap and, judging by the style of it, I thought for sure I would find this very funny. I finally sat down to watch it, and I kept waiting for a funny moment to arrive. A line, an image, a gag -- anything. The best I could do was smile half-assedly at some of the scenes and only because I so desperately wanted to find it amusing. Spinal Tap seems to shift to automatic pilot very soon in the film and just expect its audience to find the bland band interactions hysterical, as it attempts nothing else. The dialogue is viciously realistic as is the format in which the film is shot, but does that make it funny? No, not really - it only makes it realistic.
The cast are not very dynamic. They are, at best, mildly funny in a goofy sort of way that you just chuckle on the inside at, but ultimately every last one of them is incapable of projecting any real charisma or humour on-screen. It is therefore beyond me how This is Spinal Tap ever got vaulted into a cult status.
As for good aspects, it does have some interesting approaches to it, like the mockumentary style which it adopts. I'm sure there was comedy behind it, but these ideas were either badly executed or not at all. 5/10