The movie was groundbreaking and career-launching (and/or career-enhancing), both.

Full Review | Jul 9, 2025

Unlike the rock band it celebrates, “This Is Spinal Tap” has aged incredibly well. In the 41 years since its release, it remains spry, relevant and deliciously cheeky. A film, if you will, that cranks it up to 11 on the amplified scale of comedic bliss.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 5, 2025

There's no denying that Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap is still a hilarious classic, but there is one glaring problem that keeps it from perfection.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 5, 2025

(Blending) the earnest hagiography of Martin Scorsese’s "The Last Waltz" with the irreverent satire of Eric Idle’s "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash," Reiner’s ingenious bit of alchemy yields, some argue, the greatest rock and roll film ever made.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 5, 2025

Perhaps most important to Spinal Tap's longevity is that the group's music is actually good, as well as being funny. 'Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight' is absurdly redundant but undeniably hummable.

Full Review | Jul 3, 2025

The twilight of the dolts.

Full Review | Jul 2, 2025

Rob Reiner’s 41-year-old cult classic This Is Spinal Tap still works as a quietly hilarious mockumentary of rock music and its stars.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 1, 2025

This brilliantly crafted and completely on-target satire of the rock 'n' roll industry is filmed in mock documentary style.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 6, 2024

This now stands as one of the premier cult movies of all time, an honor no one saw coming back in ’84.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 18, 2024

Rob Reiner’s mockumentary deserves plaudits for the British accents alone.

Full Review | Aug 29, 2023

The hilariousness here is unending.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 24, 2021

Little riffs of comic genius can be heard amidst the heavy-metal cacophony of This is Spinal Tap...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 22, 2020

Documenting the licks and antics of a real band is one thing. Building a movie around a fake one is a challenge of a different order. The key, as Spinal Tap proved, is to fabricate a band that looks, acts and sounds at least as good as the real thing.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2019

This is Spinal Tap is hilarious to everyone who's not a musician. Because as ridiculous and perverse as Rob Reiner's heavy metal mockumentary gets, the slim, 82-minute comedy gnaws at more truths than any other rock 'n' roll biopic put to celluloid.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Mar 2, 2019

Reiner, with McKean, Guest and Harry Shearer, have done a great job in creating and portraying characters that are dimwitted, cliched and yet oddly endearing.

Full Review | Oct 23, 2018

Yes Nigel, you did go to 11. Where would cinematic comedy be if you hadn't?

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Mar 3, 2014

Consistently funny, with sheer brilliant turns from every performer on the cast...

Full Review | Jan 19, 2013

Returning to Spinal Tap always brings with it a pronounced sense of discovery, a freshness that is uncommon with movies generally and unspeakably rare in a comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jun 18, 2012

[VIDEO] Although examples of the mockumentary genre existed before "Spinal Tap" this heavy metal comedy is considered an epitome of cinematic satire.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Apr 14, 2011

If you didn't know this was a fake film, you could easily believe it's real.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 2, 2011