Behind the Music: Spinal Tap

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2006)

In 1984, Rob Reiner was already a TV veteran, but when he did his first theatrical feature, his choice was a bit odd for a "debut". Along with friends Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean, they crafted a monumental satire that stands out as a landmark of comedy: A documentary that shows the life of one of Britain's legendary heavy metal bands, Spinal Tap.
The "mockumentary" follows Spinal Tap in their latest tour across the U.S. after releasing their album "Smell the glove". Famous Commercials Director Mary DiBergi (Rob Reiner himself) is our guide and he follows the band everywhere, from parties to concerts, and we witness the brilliant genius of Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and whoever is their drummer in turn.
The satire is constant an outstanding, nothing is left untouched and we have fun with all the antics of the failed rock-stars. Really, this is a work of a team, as our main characters are as real as they can be (in fact, many people thought that Spinal Tap was real). This is probably its most remarkable feature, everything is so realistic that is fun. The creative team really did an amazing job with the characters.
Fans of rock n' roll will find references to everything from Eric Clapton to Kiss, from The Beatles to Black Sabbath and from Bon Jovi to Mötley Crüe. Nobody escapes from the sharp satire this movie uses. However, it is important to point out that the songs were also written by the team, and that Spinal Tap really do perform their set (they also did a real tour in-character for a while too).
The acting is great, as I wrote above, the performances are very real, so real that is quite hard to believe that Spinal never existed. It's hard to give credit to only one person because the movie is the work of a team. Everyone did a great job in keeping the movie look as real as it can be, Reiner, the main stars, and the countless extras, it is a perfectly crafted "documentary".
If a flaw can be found in the movie, is that it is really more rewarding when you are aware of the things they make fun of (specially since real rock-stars have stated that things depicted in the movie really have happened to some of them). However, this doesn't mean that you have to be a rocker to understand it; the situations are quite funny and the humor is so clever, that actually anyone will enjoy it.
11/10. It is that loud.