Hilarious, bitingly perceptive and cinematically assured.
Comment
08/19/08
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
Reviews for This Is Spinal Tap
Top CriticReiner'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
Top CriticQuite possibly the funniest spoof of all time.
12/10/01
First of all, let's just clarify something: This Is Spinal Tap is the funniest film ever made.
01/01/00
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
Top CriticThe 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
For music biz insiders, This Is Spinal Tap is a vastly amusing satire of heavy metal bands.
03/26/09
Top CriticScores 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
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 CriticMildly funny, not a whole lot better than the best Christopher Guest mockumentary I'd seen before this, 'Best in Show.'
04/16/08
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
Hilarious pseudo-documentary spoof of a British rock group that was so on-target in its satire, many viewers took it for the real thing.
12/17/07
Top CriticThe material is consistently clever and funny, though ultimately the attitudes are too narrow to nourish a feature-length film.
12/17/07
This superb satire became the standard against which all mockumentaries are evaluated. The film was so successful that the fictitious group reunited for a series of live concerts and a TV special, further blurring the line between real and reel.
10/22/06
The satire is ever so refreshingly played straight, is seemingly benign and dead-on funny.
06/03/06
A towering achievement in cinema, music, and life art. Funnier and more prescient every time I see it. Any time they tour I will be there.
12/06/05
A mediocre satire of heavy rock bands.
08/21/04
Duas décadas depois de seu lançamento, o filme continua a funcionar maravilhosamente bem em seu humor inteligente e sua crítica ácida sobre os bastidores do rock’n’roll.
06/16/04
No review available.
02/13/04
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