#58: SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES

 

WRITTEN AND STARRING: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner. Also starring: Valerie Franco, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, Nina Conti, Kerry Godliman and Chris Addison. Directed by Rob Reiner. Budget $22.6 million. Running time 84 minutes.

What is it with these legacy sequels? This one arrives 41 years after the original, ready and raring to go, filled with the vim and vigour that only men in the 70s can muster. 

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) narrates and guides us along as he embarks on another rockumentary showcasing the exploits of the legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap, this time charting and recording their reunion and last ever gig. No one is spared Marty's razor sharp interview techniques as he visits each of the three surviving members of the band, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), their manager Hope Faith (Kerry Goldliman), daughter of the band's original manager and an assortment of secondary characters and we catch up with what they've all been doing since the band last broke up.

Then it's a very sedate stroll to New Orleons session studio as the band rehearse for their final show and audition a new drummer, DiDi (Valerie Franco). Then a series of somewhat amusing incidents happen that elicit a laugh, or smirk, or chortle, although these decrease as the music increases. The whole film poots along like a mobility scooter for four until the stadium show and a performance of Stonehenge brings the house crashing down. Along the way, the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lars Ulrich, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Questlove and Chad Smith pop up for some shits and giggles.

This starts rather well, we get to meet the characters all now engaged in new activities be it running a cheese and guitar shop, curating a glue museum or writing music for murder podcasts, and all the surviving characters from the original film are interviewed, the jokes are funny, fast and entertaining, easy jibes about age are avoided as the trio try to get the mojo back, but something's stopping them, and it's an unspoken feud between Nigel and David, although its revelation later in the proceedings arrives with all the fanfare of a silent fart. Sadly the film seems far more concerned with watching the band perform and that's when this sort of loses it's verve, the sad fact is, they're just not that good and the lengthy musical interludes drains the film of it's humour. 

Luckily things pick up when during their final gig, Elton John emerges from the floor of the stage to take on lead vocals on Stonehenge and the henge itself is lowered from the ceiling, this time full size. 

This is by no means a bad film, and it's certainly not terrible, it's just a little too sedate, Harry Shearer seems to have been shortchanged and it's left mostly to Guest and McKean to hog the limelight. If only it had focused more on the humour and a little less on the music. It's amusing rather than hilarious and mumbles when it should have roared. 

6/10