Day 145 - This Is Spinal Tap



Day 145         This Is Spinal Tap [1984]
                          
Screenplay                    Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner
Director                         Rob Reiner
Cinematography            Peter Smokler
Music                            Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner
Leads                            Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, June Chadwick, Tony Hendra, Bruno Kirby, David Kaff, R.J. Parnell
Production                      Spinal Tap Productions

IMDb                                  8/11
Rotten Tomatoes                 95%

I legit thought that Spinal Tap were a real band. I was therefore surprised to see what I thought was a documentary about said band rating amongst the classics. I had to give it a watch and quickly found out that it’s a mockumentary spoofing rock bands of the 60s/70s. It is incredibly quotable and an almost perfect parody of rock bands, so much so that it has moved the odd rock legend to tears as well as making some of them admit they couldn’t watch it because of it similarity to their lives. There is a lot of improv in this movie and it works so well. I was in stitches at times – the one bit that got me was when the Bass player got stuck in a cocoon whilst performing on stage – such basic yet golden humour. Reiner does a fantastic job of creating a realistic doc and I’m sure I’m not the only person that’s been had by it. The exchanges are hilarious, you can tell it’s a film that they had a great time making. IMDb have even given the film a special Easter egg, ranking the film out of 11 due to a famous scene that I won’t spoil. This film was a great little find, and I was giggling away trying to watch it at my desk at work (it’s only a part-time job though the blog lives on!).

Acting                              4 / 4
Writing                          3.5 / 4
Cinematography               2 / 4
Music                               3 / 4
HWF rating              3.5 / 11

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