Now that VH-1's "Behind the Music" and other rockumentaries are an increasingly regularpart of the cable TV landscape, Rob Reiner's directorial debut, the 1984 mock documentary"This Is Spinal Tap," seems even more dead-on in its parody of a group of aging, outdatedBritish heavy metal rockers on their last American tour. Because there have been dozens ofone-hour programs with aged rock stars, from Ozzy Osborne to Ted Nugent to themembers of Styx, pouring out stories of their trials and tribulations in the limelight, "ThisIs Spinal Tap" takes on an extra level of satire. It was, in many ways, ahead of its time.Almost prophetic.

The mostly improvised storyline was put together by Reiner and the movie's three mainstars, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. Reiner plays MartyDiBergi, a documentary filmmaker whose camera follows the members of Spinal Tap ontheir attempted comeback tour through the United States in support of their latest album,"Smell the Glove."

Guest, McKean, and Shearer (all three of whom, along with Reiner, also wrote andperformed all the music) play the three mainstays of the band, respectively lead guitaristNigel Tufnel, vocalist David St. Hubbins, and bassist Derek Smalls. There is no consistentband member on drums because, in one of the movie's long-running jokes, the drummerkeeps dying under mysterious circumstances (one dies in a gardening accident, anotherspontaneously combusts, and another chokes to death on vomit, although no one seems toknow whose).

The members of Spinal Tap resemble Ozzy Osbrne's first band, Black Sabbath, althoughthere is plenty of early '80s metal bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard mixed in.Dressed in skin-tight spandex pants, leather vests, and sporting gaudy eye make-up andshaggy hair, the members of Spinal Tap are inherent parodies of themselves. There is noway to take them seriously, especially when they are attempting to wax philosophic duringnumerous on-camera interviews; yet, somehow they are oddly intriguing.

The film follows their doomed American tour, which grows steadily worse and worse as itprogresses. Various shows are cancelled, and the band goes from playing 10,000-seat arenasto 1,000-seat arenas, to tiny venues with maybe a dozen fans. The cover art for their newalbum gets nixed because it is considered offensive ("What's wrong with being sexy?" oneband members asks when someone tells him the cover is "sexist"), and they wind up withan album that has an all-black cover with no writing on it. No one shows up to their recordsignings, and at one point they get lost backstage trying to make their grand entrance.

The band's cheese-metal rock songs with titles like "Big Bottom" and "Hell Hole" are thekind of junk that, as one line from a song proudly declares, makes your eardrums bleed.The movie is sprinkled with wonderfully lurid stage performances by the band that areinevitably struck with some kind of embarrassing disaster (their show-stopping tune"Stonehenge" is ruined when the set designer builds an 18-inch, rather than 18-foot, replicaof the famous stones).

First-time director Rob Reiner gets the tone and pitch of the mockumentary just right.Frighteningly enough, it is not hard to believe that Spinal Tap might be a real band, and theridiculous things they say and do is not far from what spills from the mouths of rockcelebrities every day. "This Is Spinal Tap" is one of the best examples of improvisationalfilmmaking done right. The improvisational nature of the material gives the film an addedelement of realism in that none of the scenes feel rehearsed; instead, they play like real lifecaught on camera. It is truly inspired satire, the kind that plays completely straight, yet isabsolutely hilarious at the same time.

It is also testament to the talent of the three main stars that, despite the obvious parody,they create sympathetic characters out of the various band members. You actually feel badfor them when they are sitting by themselves in a record store with no fans looking forautographs. Although the movie is hilarious, I think it is the undeniable human nature of theloser characters that has kept the movie alive for so long.

Copyright ©2000 James Kendrick