It’s unbelievable that it’s been 41 years since This is Spinal Tap, the groundbreaking mockumentary from director Rob Reiner, and writer/performers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. It becomes more believable when you see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues and you realise: these guys are very, very old. Harry Shearer is 81! And just as age makes fools of us all, this long awaited sequel is a saggier, craggier instalment, lighter on big laughs but still a genuinely pleasing experience for the legion of cult fans who will rush out to see it.

For those who don’t know, This is Spinal Tap (1984) was a mockumentary about a self-important hair metal band on tour. The band consisted of singer David St. Hubbins (McKeon), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Guest) and softly spoken bass player Derek Smalls (Shearer), and a litany of ill-fortuned drummers who each came to a grisly end. One of their drummers even exploded on stage. Jokes like the band’s guitar amps going all the way to 11, or their Stonehenge stage prop being much smaller than what was ordered, have become part of the cultural fabric.

Stylistically, the fly-on-the-wall approach of the camera, as you both watch the band navigate the rock and roll world, intercut with dead pan interviews directly to camera, became hugely influential, and paved the way for shows like The Office down the track. Spinal Tap sits alongside films like Rocky Horror Picture Show, producing cult-like fans who can recite every line.

So what’s happened to the band in the last 41 years? Well, we’re told they stopped playing together 15 years ago after some kind of incident. Tufnel runs a cheese-and-guitar shop with his girlfriend Moira (a delightful Nina Conti). St. Hubbins composes telephone hold music and has won a ‘holdie’, the most prestigious award you can get in the hold music industry. Smalls runs a glue museum.

They’re reunited to play one last show by Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), daughter of their previous manager, and sleazy music executive Simon Howler (Chris Addison), who is very clearly based on a similarly named and similarly objectionable English personality. As the band looks for a new drummer and gets ready for a huge show in New Orleans, they’re joined by celebrities like Paul McCartney and Elton John, who reveal themselves to be huge fans of the Tap. And yes, there is another Stonehenge that features a prominent role in the story.

So does Tap II deliver the goods. Yes and no. When you’ve been so hugely influential on a genre such as the mockumentary, it’s inevitable that when you return to it 41 years later, it feels almost … imitative. Put another way, there’s fresher versions of this sort of thing out there.

But that shouldn’t deter anyone from jumping on board again for 84 pleasant minutes. The jokes about how much the band has aged mostly land. Guest, in particular, has such a good command of the language of egotistical English rockers, and is able to deliver ridiculous lines with a deluded sincerity that is instantly relatable. And sincerity is probably what gets Tap II over the line. These guys really mean it. The music, played entirely by the cast, is no joke. And you’ll end up, once again, rooting for Spinal Tap with a smile on your face. Just don’t get too attached to their drummer.

 

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is currently playing in cinemas.