Johnny Showtime: SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES

 by JB

Back from the dead... for one last show.

About a year ago, I was overjoyed when I learned that the original guys behind the original Spinal Tap movie—Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer—were working on a sequel. Then I experienced a tsunami of “cash-in” sequels (I’m looking at you, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F., Happy Gilmore 2, Freakier Friday) and I began to worry. The Original Spinal Tap is one of the funniest movies ever made and is endlessly quotable, but that film was like capturing lightning in a bottle. Could the band work its old miserable magic 41 years later?

I think the new sequel succeeds. Is it as good as the original? Of course not, but if you adjust your expectations accordingly, as I did, the new movie is very funny.

THE PLOT IN BRIEF: Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), the daughter of deceased Tap manager Ian Faith (the late Tony Hendra), discovers that the band owes her one final live concert per their original contract with her dad. Hope engages pop impresario Simon Howler (Chris Addison) to help her stage a farewell concert at the New Orleans Lakefront Arena. Filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), the director of the original Spinal Tap documentary, agrees to help Faith round up the boys, who haven’t played together in 15 years. David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) is now an award-winning composer of the music you are forced to listen to while you’re on hold. Derek Smalls is the proprietor of a glue museum. Nigel Tufnel runs a cheese shop that also sells used guitars.

The reunited band hold auditions for a new drummer and choose Didi Crockett (the talented Valerie Franco). She accepts, despite worries about her safety. The group rehearse to prepare for their upcoming concert. Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John show up to lend a hand. It looks like the final Spinal Tap concert will be a thrilling success. What could possibly go wrong?

I went into my screening last Wednesday night with tremendous misgivings, but I laughed a lot. I would give examples of jokes that worked for me but I do not wish to spoil them. (Paul McCartney is a hoot.) The film is very funny and honestly addresses the band members’ advanced ages—for instance, Derek Smalls premieres his new song “Rockin' in the Urn,” which deals with his inevitable demise in an optimistic, heavy metal style. Howler hires a personal trainer to help the band members get into shape; Faith worries the extra exercise could kill them.

Guest, McKean, and Shearer are always fun to watch and they have great chemistry—there's no question that they love to make music together. In the end, your enjoyment of this movie is going to be directly related to how far this combination takes you.

ONE QUIBBLE: The soundtrack LP released last Friday contains all the songs from the film but one: a charming acapella warm-up piece that the band performs at one point in the studio. It sounds like an old English madrigal. Why is it not on the album?

ANOTHER QUIBBLE: I deliberately chose the IMAX screening near my home last Wednesday because that screening promised a tantalizing extra: a Q & A with Rob Reiner and the band broadcast LIVE from the TCL Chinese Theater after the film’s Hollywood premiere. Well, at the Regal Edwards IMAX theater in Camarillo, there was NO LIVE Q & A. (If I had known that, I would have simply driven to the TCL Chinese theater and enjoyed the Q & A in person. There are advantages to living near Hell-A.) Later I learned that, in many other IMAX theaters in many other states, hundreds of Spinal Tap fans similarly got rooked. After the screening, I approached the manager and received a refund.

YET ANOTHER QUIBBLE: The refund DID NOT include the online ticketing fees. Boo. Later that same night, horny for feedback, the Regal Theater chain sent me an online survey about that screening and that theater.. Here’s what I wrote back to them:

“The IMAX theater at Regal Edwards Camarillo isn't a true IMAX screen; it is too small. The auditorium is in horrendous condition; the carpet is so dirty in some places it's just black. Seats are peeling or covered with patches. We bought tickets to the pre-release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which was advertised as including a LIVE Q & A after the screening from the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. There was no post-show Q & A at our screening. When we informed the manager of this, he "did not know what we were talking about." (Maybe theater managers should HAVE A CLUE about what is going on in their theaters on any given night.) Also, at this theater, the bathrooms are on the second floor. You have to climb a flight of steps or take an elevator to get to them. What genius designed this? When you go to the movies, you want bathroom trips to be quick SO YOU DON'T MISS MUCH OF THE FILM. The entire evening was frustrating and disappointing-- the opposite of what one wants a night at the movies to be.”

IMAX THEATERS NATIONWIDE: Get your shite together.

READERS NATIONWIDE: Go and see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. It’s quite good.