Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer star in SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES. (Photo: Bleecker Street)
How many times is the reunion concert better than the original show? It’s often just getting the band back together for a cash grab or a nostalgia kick.
The same typically holds true for legacy sequels like Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, a delayed encore to the hilarious 1984 musical satire that’s breezy and amusing enough as fan service while also feeling slightly out of tune.
Employing the same mockumentary structure as the original, of course, the approach is something of a meta riff on the enduring real-life popularity of a fictional heavy-metal band.
It starts again with director Rob Reiner playing the straight man as documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi, who sets out to reunite British rockers Spinal Tap — which had split up acrimoniously years earlier — for a New Orleans farewell show, as stipulated in the fine print of their contract.
He finds guitarist Nigel (Christopher Guest) running a cheese shop, lead singer David (Michael McKean) writing shlock movie scores, and bassist Derek (Harry Shearer) now the proprietor of a glue museum.
Adding a young drummer (Valerie Franco), following the untimely deaths of their first 13 in various tragic accidents, the band reluctantly cranks up the amplifier again, albeit with a greedy promoter (Chris Addison) harboring ulterior motives.
Older but not necessarily wiser, which is good thing, they experiment with a mellow sound and hold jam sessions in the studio with some legends. But can they put aside their bickering long enough to make it to the stage?
There are some scattered big laughs amid the steady barrage of sight gags, one-liners, and dad jokes. However, the reliance on self-referential humor emphasizes the superiority of its predecessor.
A few throwback cameos are nice touches, but the non sequitur references to odd targets such as cheese wheels, cryptocurrency, and IHOP are a mixed bag.
It’s doubtful that Spinal Tap II will connect with a new generation, although that hardly seems like the point. Still, the songs aren’t as memorable in a bittersweet follow-up that only sporadically recaptures the scrappy and charming magic of its predecessor.
Never really justifying its own necessity, the film shows that while the chemistry is still there, the material — including a formula that’s been ripped off numerous times in the last four decades — now feels more familiar than fresh.
Rated R, 83 minutes.