Rent This is Spinal Tap (1984)

The Loudest Quiet Masterpiece - This is Spinal Tap review by griggs

Some comedies land in the moment and vanish; others lodge in the culture until quoting them becomes second nature. This one is firmly in the latter camp. “Turn it up to eleven” isn’t just a line anymore—it’s shorthand for excess itself.

What Rob Reiner and his cast pulled off still crackles with invention. By playing it straight, they made parody sharper than broad satire ever manages. The band is absurd, but never reduced to a punchline. They’re ridiculous and, somehow, heartbreakingly real. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer walk the fine line between self-delusion and sincerity, which is why the jokes feel fresher than many of the rock anthems they skewer.

The mockumentary form has been copied endlessly since, but few match the precision here. This Is Spinal Tap is both a send-up and a love letter to rock pomp, a film as clever as it is silly. It might just be the funniest rock film ever to take itself seriously.

Film Comedy At It's Best - This is Spinal Tap review by GI

The quintessential mockumentary and one of the great movie satires. The very fact that many believed this was an actual documentary about a real band and that many very famous rock musicians have stated this is actually very like real life to them reflects just how brilliantly clever it is and that people think rock musicians are really like this. The film charts the making of a 'rockumentary' by Marti DiBergi (played by director Rob Reiner) who follows British rock band Spinal Tap on a disastrous tour of America. It really is laugh out loud stuff and any music fan will spot the various similarities to the stories of real bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and even The Beatles. The realism is emphasised in that the actors playing the band were also accomplished musicians and played all their own parts as well as writing the songs ('Lick My Love Pump' for example). Michael McKean and Christopher Guest are the two main members of the band, David St Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, who grew up together and are the writing partnership of the band (a sort of Lennon & McCartney) and as the film follows the falling apart of the band when David brings his girlfriend in to help with the management (Nigel hates her) you'll recognise the Yoko Ono analogy. Loads of cameo appearances by the likes of Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, Patrick MacNee and Angelica Huston too. Full of hilarious quotable lines and a film where more jokes can be spotted every time you watch it this is one of the great modern comedy films and highly recommended if you've never seen it.

Sublime Sandwich - This is Spinal Tap review by Steve

Many decades on, This is Spinal Tap has aced the test of time- and there is zero cringe... Perhaps the pop culture reference points are less relevant. And overfamiliarity may have eroded the hilarity of arguably the funniest film ever made. Especially those scenes fans tell each other in pubs and on tour buses...

Like the disappointing model of Stonehenge, or the uniquely loud amp... But credit is due, as this stuff has entered the idioms of the English language. And now, a gag once overlooked may well get the laughs. Plus there's a surprising amount of fun just observing how much the actors are enjoying themselves...

Including the US cast doing the English accents, with Michael McKean and Christopher Guest giving us more or less Jagger as the scene dictates, with that strain of nasal camp. Or how uncannily Harry Shearer modulates his proletarian vowels. Americans really shouldn't be able to impersonate Brits so well...

Without their obvious affection for these guileless optimists, it might be too cruel to endure. Tap may be idiots but they are matchless companions on a screen for 82m. The legendary script is all bangers. My own favourite is the irrefutable logic of Viv Savage's personal philosophy: "Have a good time... all the time'.