ok, so a slightly different from the usual post for the minute of Nigel Tufnel on the hour of Nigel Tufnel on the day of Nigel Tufnel of the month of Nigel Tufnel, look you see. it is not, after all, every year one gets a brand new Spinal Tap release (in this instance a film), and so, well, today seemed to be the most appropriate day to comment on it. and why not.
perhaps this is stating the obvious but surely all who went into making Spinal Tap II The End Continues knew there was no chance of topping the original. leaving aside the magnificence of the first one (for clarity This Is Spinal Tap) over the last 40 years (!!!) it's stature has grown out of any sense of perspective, so many lines and moments have become not cultural references but cultural definitions, assuming that is a more elevated term for it. you would think, or hope, they had some sense that the best outcome here would be akin to Blade Runner 2049 - made as good as it could possibly be, yet ultimately just proving that no further film was required, there was no more story to tell.
merrily it is so that Tap 2 ticks the right boxes in this sense. actually, the more time passes after i watched it, the more i consider some moments from it and find them funnier than i did whilst watching. on watching the film my thoughts were more of being "entertained in an agreeable way" rather than battling riotous fits of laughter. certainly the memories linger, or grow.
getting "negative waves" out the way is to look at what the film (at least for me) gets so spectacularly wrong. that would be, alas "crossing into the real world". the original was in an entirely fictitious universe, resplendent with fabricated rival bands and wonderful created album reviews. having, and the trailers show this so i am assuming no spoiler warnings needed, the very much real Paul McCartney and Elton John turn up and speak about the band is distracting. i "get" the appeal of the celebrity cameos they have, and you don't get all that much bigger than them two, yet it is their presence which provides, oddly, the weakest parts of the film.
which is a huge shame, as equally this was used as a strength. obviously (if not infamously) Spinal Tap have had some issues with drummers. the scenes of the band trying to coerce very real and rather famous drummers to join them are true comedy gold.
in regards of the rest, well, it's as charming, madcap, surreal and funny as you would hope. the look at what the band have been up to, in and away from music, is priceless. as usual i am mindful of spoilers and such, but still, having Derek Smalls run a glue museum is just so "yeah", on the button, absurdly making sense. for that matter so is David St Hubbins making jingles for corporate hold music.
my favourite bits were some (very close to) blink and you will miss them "where are they now" interviews with some of the peripheral characters. that term feels somewhat demeaning to Jeanine, but still, her bit is brilliant. delighted to see Artie Fufkin once more, but if you want an example of sheer comedy genius achieved within just a few words, that would be the catch up with Bobbi Flekman.
from all the concerns i had about how the film might go wrong, it was that we could not (sadly) have a return of Ian Faith. credit absolute for the character Hope Faith (Ian's daughter), superbly played by Kerry Godliman. she was truly wonderfully brilliant.
despite not purposefully (or deliberately) setting out to do so, one of the main things this film does is reflect exactly how our definition of "rock and roll" has changed. one has to remember that in the original the band, somewhere in their 30s, were seen as "past it", dinosaurs, their admittedly initially dim light fading fast. and they are here, 40 years on from that, still playing. like an awful lot of the supposed past it rock dinosaurs the band was meant to be a loving, heartfelt pastiche of.
realistically i shall not be around in 40 or so years to confirm this one but it just doesn't feel likely that this one will become quite so culturally defining as the original. which, perhaps, isn't really all that much of an issue. enjoying it for what it is means to have a most agreeable 90 or so minutes of entertainment which rarely dips or causes you to lose attention.
quite unlikely, i know, but if any of you have clicked on this asking "is Spinal Tap 2 worth watching" then the answer is, happily, yes.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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