Biting satire, brilliant execution, but not that funny

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2001)

This is Spinal Tap is a modern cinematic masterpiece, but it's not that funny. If you know nothing of the subject matter then you'll sit stone faced through it. I've put this to the test, using relatives who know nothing about rock music, and found it to be true. I think all the people who consider it to be the funniest film of all time are sadly deluding it and themselves.
This is Spinal Tap is, however, a true bona fide modern day classic.

The script seems episodic and rambling but is actually fairly tightly plotted. The actors should have all been up for Academy Awards. Their accents were spot on. Many British people, myself included, find American actors trying British accents to be one of the most hilarious things imaginable. Most American actresses tend to think all British women talk like the Queen and most American men seem to end up somewhere between Hugh Grant and a bad Mick Jagger. These actors kept their accents good and strong for the whole film. These elements and the brilliant idea of giving the whole film a documentary feel - including some obviously improvised dialogue - propel this film to a status above all satires.
This is Spinal Tap is, certainly, one of the best films ever made and also very influential - if This is Spinal Tap never happened then I think we'd have never had the Larry Sanders Show - But for shear comedic value it's not as funny as say the Preston Sturges/Howard Hawks screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's, the insane gag a minute films like Airplane; Something about Mary; American Pie or Showgirls.