This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
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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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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Hilarious, bitingly perceptive and cinematically assured. Full Review |
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Reiner's brilliantly inventive script and smart visuals avoid all the obvious pitfalls, making this one of the funniest ever films about the music business. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Quite possibly the funniest spoof of all time. Full Review |
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5/5 |
First of all, let's just clarify something: This Is Spinal Tap is the funniest film ever made. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Reiner’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. Full Review |
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4/4 |
The 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] Full Review |
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For music biz insiders, This Is Spinal Tap is a vastly amusing satire of heavy metal bands. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Scores 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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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B |
Mildly funny, not a whole lot better than the best Christopher Guest mockumentary I'd seen before this, 'Best in Show.' Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
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. Full Review |
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The material is consistently clever and funny, though ultimately the attitudes are too narrow to nourish a feature-length film. Full Review |
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A- |
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. Full Review |
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B |
The satire is ever so refreshingly played straight, is seemingly benign and dead-on funny. Full Review |
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5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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2/5 |
A mediocre satire of heavy rock bands. Full Review |
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5/5 |
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.
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5/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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CommentLatest News for This Is Spinal Tap
June 22, 2009:
Spinal Tap Is Back from the Dead 
A quarter century after walking the fine line between clever and stupid, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer are back together again as Spinal Tap, playing... More...
December 19, 2007:
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On Friday, you'll finally be able to see John C. Reilly take center stage. He'll be playing Dewey Cox in Walk Hard, an absurdist spoof on troubled musicians and the Hollywood... More...
April 27, 2007:
When Is A DVD Worth $400? A Look At Criterion Collectibles
When is a DVD worth $400? To DVD enthusiasts, it's when said disc is a rare Criterion white-ring issue of Pier Pasolini's 1975 film "Salo," which can go for upwards of... More...
August 16, 2006:
Character Actor Bruno Kirby, Dead at 57
You'd immediately recognize the face (and the voice) from movies like "City Slickers," "Good Morning Vietnam," and "When Harry Met Sally," but you... More...
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