As the audience took their seats, the original trailer, which focuses on a cheese festival rather than the band and may explain why it did so poorly at the box office, played as did a video of Rob Reiner interviewing Nate Bargatze, Ricky Gervais, Conan O’Brien, Questlove, and Ben Stiller raving about This Is Spinal Tap, and promotional images for items such as a new book and clothing.
Buy This Is Spinal Tap (Criterion Collection) Blu-rayWhen Spinal Tap II opens, the band has been apart for 15 years. It’s not clear why they broke up yet again, but they are forced back together through a contractual obligation owed their late manager Ian Hope, whose daughter Faith (Kerry Godliman) received the contract when her father passed.
Taking advantage of the reunion, documentarian Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner), whose career stalled after the first film, is back to record the concert and preparations for it. Although the band wasn’t thrilled with how they looked in This Is Spinal Tap, which they blame Di Bergi for, they are cordial when he finds them before they head to New Orleans.
In Morro Bay, David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) creates music for podcasts in his home studio. In a small English town, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) runs a cheese/guitar shop where he sells and/or trades both. In London, Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) runs a glue museum. The film captures their struggles as they rehearse and the unspoken tension is palpable. Things ease a bit when they finally find a drummer.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Spinal Tap II is the second funniest Spinal Tap movie. It’s nice to see the characters again and how they’ve evolved over the year, and there are laughs to be had, but there are no iconic moments that made the original film such a classic. Spinal Tap II comes across like early draft of ideas that needed to be mined and refined, but nothing in it matches the polished, comedic brilliance of This Is Spinal Tap.
Most of the celebrity cameos don’t make much sense, like the inclusion of Paul McCartney. It isn’t clear how he ended up at the New Orleans studio but it is funny when he takes Nigel’s side in an argument about a song’s arrangement, causing David to dismiss him. Elton John’s inclusion feels more organic to the story and his scenes work better, especially at the story’s climax. The cameos of characters from the previous film are great, albeit brief.
After the film played, a Q&A of the main trio moderated by Di Bergi was broadcast live from the TCL Chinese Theater. Questions for the band were submitted by audience members, who got to watch the quartet interact and riff in character, but the questions didn’t offer much of a launching pad. Like the movie that had just played, the Q&A was amusing but didn’t offer a great deal of laughs.
