Rent Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

Not Quite Turned to Eleven - Spinal Tap II: The End Continues review by griggs

Some sequels arrive decades later with the weight of myth. This one ambles in with a grin, a few fresh riffs, and the confidence that a reunion is reason enough. It’s a good, funny film—just not the kind that will be quoted to death or stitched onto T-shirts.

The band is older, slower, and still magnificently ridiculous. The humour leans more on nostalgia than invention, but it works often enough to keep the amps buzzing. Cameos pop up like surprise solos, adding sparkle even when the jokes themselves don’t quite reach eleven.

What’s missing is that anarchic sense of discovery the original nailed—mockumentary as revelation. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues doesn’t reinvent the form; it feels less mockumentary than traditional comedy, it plays the hits, slightly out of tune but still toe-tapping. For fans, that’s enough: not legendary, but a warm encore.

Pleasant memories (for Tap fans only) - Spinal Tap II: The End Continues review by Alphaville

Affectionate sequel 41 years after the original, made even more poignant after what happened to director Rob Reiner. The humour’s more intermittent and strained this time around, with a paltry 80-minute run-time further reduced by giving boot-licking cameos to Paul McCartney and Elton John. Still, if you’re a Tap fan it’s good to catch up with the band and the film has its moments both nostalgic and funny.

Hilariously Funny & Arch Sequel to the Classic Pioneering Mockumentary SPINAL TAP - Spinal Tap II: The End Continues review by PV

I see this had got middling reviews from most but personally I found it utterly hilarious - made me laugh out loud several times, which is rare!

The worry with sequels is always that they'll fall flat, but this doesn't - maybe because of the big 4 decade gap between the first film and this. In short, this sequel is not milking it as some do....

The first SPINAL TAP film was also the first mockumentary which has spawned a whole genre, incl THE OFFICE and more, so they were wise not to make a sequel sooner, and US and UK TV and film in effect did - a lot! Maybe too much now, as the omnipresent mockumentary format now tends to generate eye-rolls aplenty...

The best of TAP is both silly and profound. It was in the first film and it is here. Just take this lyric: "Gonna wear you baby like a flesh tuxedo/I'm gonna sink you with my pink torpedo". Sheer poetry. AND the songs are well-crafted musically and lyrically, as all who've written songs or are musical will know. It's hard to do and get right, even when playing wrong, or doing satire.

As a film in the extras says, this is really a love story, a bromance - and anyone who's ever been in a band will be able to relate to the escapades of Spinal Tap then and now. It really does nail it, but then these actors started as musicians too, real ones, in the last 1960s so art is imitating life a bit. Other funny music business movies include KILLING BONO and KILL YOUR FRIENDS.

I still marvel at how American actors can nail the British accent so well, though the very posh aristocrat Christopher Guest is British-American. They still all nail it totally, as does pop royalty especially Paul McCartney - Elton has done cameos galore before.

Let the film run on past the credits to see two EXCELLENT short extra films which do not outstay their welcome - I never knew SPINAL TAP started on TV in 1978 on a comedy show.