Classic Flicks: Reiner's This is Spinal Tap

By Joseph Allencherril     12/2/10 6:00pm

When talking about my favorite comedy films with friends, I sometimes forget that not everyone has seen This is Spinal Tap. Only grossing $4.5 million when it was released in 1984, This is Spinal Tap has been awarded a so-called "cult" status. However, This is Spinal Tap has had tremendous influence on the current generation of comedy. A world without This is Spinal Tap would mean a world without other "mockumentary"-style movies or TV shows like "The Office" (both the U.K. and U.S. versions), "Flight of the Conchords" or Borat. Since their film debut, the band Spinal Tap has released albums, played sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena and appeared on "The Simpsons." At least among comedians, the cult of Spinal Tap is a large one. David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean, "Laverne and Shirley"), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, Godzilla) and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, Waiting for Guffman) form the musical trio Spinal Tap, who believe they have finally found their niche in the heavy metal genre after starting out as a 1960s folk group. A documentary crew follows Spinal Tap in their attempt to make it as a band. It is a journey riddled with mishaps, misunderstandings and miscommunication.

David, Derek and Nigel are fragile, pathetic characters, unaware of their own idiocy and musical deficiencies. The gap between how these characters perceive themselves and what they actually are is the source of much of the film's hysterics. Yet the viewer grows to feel a kinship with Spinal Tap, whose optimism never dies out in the face of constant failure. The appeal of Spinal Tap is universal, despite their unfortunate guitar playing.

For the sake of those who have not seen the film, I will not discuss the gag-destroying details, but the Stonehenge scene has been tattooed on my brain from the myriad times I have mentally played it when in need of a private laugh. Why is it so funny? It is possibly the bewildered expression on Nigel's and David's faces, or, more likely, it is just comedy magic. To paraphrase Mark Twain, attempting to explain humor is like dissecting a frog - the process kills both.

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It almost seems possible that the events in This is Spinal Tap actually transpired. Surely there are real bands like Spinal Tap - they just don't know it yet. Even rock legends from Robert Plant to Eddie Van Halen attest to the accuracy of the film's depiction of life in a band. British comedian Ricky Gervais has said that the only fault of This is Spinal Tap is that it is fictional. If it were real, he said, he would watch it every day.

This is Spinal Tap was the directorial debut of Rob Reiner, who has gone on to direct many commercially successful films, including When Harry Met Sally. (1989), A Few Good Men (1992) and The Bucketlist (2007). But does This is Spinal Tap really share anything artistically with any of his later endeavors? The question of the film's authorship is often a contentious subject in film critic circles. Since the majority of the script was ad-libbed by the actors, much of the writing credit goes to McKean, Shearer and Guest. Guest, the only one of the group who has seriously taken up filmmaking, eventually pioneered the language of the current "mockumentary" (though he disapproves of the term because his intention is not to mock anyone, but to explore obscure communities by using this style). The same vein of comedic genius prominent in This is Spinal Tap runs through each of his subsequent films, hilariously improvised mockumentaries in which he has assumed the role of director, writer (often with Eugene Levy, American Pie) and actor: Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006). Like Italian director Federico Fellini and other great art filmmakers of old, Guest tends to work with the same set of actors in each his films.

At a time when Hollywood churns out so-called comedy films that are rarely funny, I am often frightened by the prospect that I may never again laugh out loud while watching a new movie. In those dark times I find my copy of This is Spinal Tap and let the good times fumble and roll.

Joseph Allencherril is a Will Rice College sophomore.

Classic Flicks is a column reexamining and rediscovering the best that cinema has to offer.

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