Back on 'Tap'

Last week, I was able to see the Academy Screening of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which included a lovely panel afterwards with director Rob Reiner. You'll be able to watch that discussion in the below video when it premieres on October 6:

Some might rankle at the idea that the iconic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap is getting a sequel all these years later, but the benefit of the doubt should (and likely will) go to Christopher Guest (returning to once again play the dimwitted Nigel Tufnel), who spent the intervening years since 1984's This Is Spinal Tap creating a cottage industry of beloved and acclaimed half-improvised films (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind). Spinal Tap II, like the original, is written by Guest, Reiner, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, who all return in their respective roles of Tufnel, director Marty Di Bergi, Nigel St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls.

Part of the important lore of This is Spinal Tap is that Guest, McKean and Shearer are all musicians who turned the fictional Spinal Tap into a real (fictional) band in real life, releasing several albums and playing multiple massive shows and festivals over the decades since the film that introduced them to the world became a landmark touchstone in the worlds of satire and rock and roll. I myself (and I suspect many others) first became aware of Spinal Tap when they appeared on a Season 3 episode of The Simpsons. They were depicted as a cool, Satan-loving band that Bart adored, and as they also had a new-ish album in stores at the time, I assumed they were a real band. After all, I liked funny bands! Weird Al is funny!

So now the boys are back, despite none of the creators ever thinking they'd make a sequel. (This is, in fact, the first sequel in Rob Reiner's long career.) But the past decade of music icons regrouping for reunions, victory laps, and similar nostalgia plays sparked a germ of an idea, combined with the long stretch of time that McKean, Guest and Shearer had gone without playing together.

Like the first film, all dialogue in the movie is entirely improvised – including by guest stars like Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Questlove. The very fact that McCartney and John stop by to engage in lengthy scenes and musical collaborations with Spinal Tap are the movie's own way of taking a victory lap, as well as showcasing the influence and legacy that This Is Spinal Tap has accrued.

But thankfully, The End Continues is far from just a victory lap. It's a completely worthy successor to the original, and structured in a way that you needn't have watched the first one to enjoy it (although you absolutely should watch the first one if you have any desire to see either of them). Most of the jokes land, and just as in This Is Spinal Tap, the movie is ultimately about the relationship between Tufnel and St. Hubbins, two lifelong friends who cannot help but let their egos keep getting in the way.

A standout here is Valerie Franco as Didi Crockett, the band's new drummer who is dead set against letting the Spinal Tap drummer curse kill her. Another fantastic new addition is Chris Addison as Simon Howler, an unflinchingly sleazy concert promoter who – in one of the best runners in the movie – was born with the inability to perceive music.

There's lots of fun stuff in here, and although it was destined to not live up to its iconic predecessor, it's definitely worth your time. It may not go to 11, but it's still plenty loud.