Spinal Nap
When filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) learns that aging rock band Spinal Tap are releasing a new album and heading out on tour again he gets a deal to film a documentary about them. With the aid of archive footage of the band in their early days, interviews with the band members as well as behind the scenes footage he brings together a look at the unglamorous life of the band.
I watched "This is Spinal Tap" for the first time in 1989, I say I watched but I gave up on it and it wasn't until 1991 that I sat through the whole movie although truth be told I wanted to walk away. Now for a while I thought it was just as a case that I didn't enjoy "This is Spinal Tap" until some years later I got to watch another mockumentary and disliked it just as much and it was then that I realised that I simply don't enjoy mockumentaries, something which has been backed up by trying to watch others since.
The thing is that watching "This is Spinal Tap" I can see it all; there are the mimicking of real bands as we have photos of the band as children when two of them were friends. There is also footage of them when they were a smart pop act on an old British pop show and there are the jokes such as two of the band members having identical cold sores. I could go on because I can see what it is aiming for but I just don't find it funny. Even the witty lines and comical interview questions does nothing for me and maybe it is a case that you needed to enjoy it back in 1984 to still appreciate it.
What this all boils down to is that "This is Spinal Tap" is not for me, it never has been for me and I seriously doubt it will ever be for me. But whilst I didn't find it amusing I can see every gag and I can see how some people probably did find it fun.
