Turned up to 4
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025): 4 out of 10: There are few fake bands in popular culture that can genuinely compete with real ones. The fictional group from Guardians of the Galaxy (Both movie and 2021 game) managed to put together a surprisingly catchy albums, and the same can be said for Spinal Tap. Long after This Is Spinal Tap became one of the greatest comedies ever made, songs like “Big Bottom,” “Hell Hole,” “Stonehenge,” and “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” are still legitimately fun listens. Smell the Glove may have started as a joke, but it’s a remarkably entertaining joke that has outlived countless real rock albums.
That makes revisiting Spinal Tap forty years later an exciting proposition. The original film remains one of the greatest mockumentaries ever made, and unlike many comedies from the 1980s, its humor has barely aged a day. The sequel follows documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi as he reunites with David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls for one final concert brought about by an unusual contractual obligation. Along the way, the band attempts to reconcile old differences while reflecting on a career that was never quite as glorious as they remember it.
It’s a premise with enormous potential. Unfortunately, potential and execution turn out to be two very different things.
The Good
Before discussing the film itself, it’s worth mentioning that the music still works. One of the enduring jokes of Spinal Tap is that the band is simultaneously ridiculous and oddly talented. The songs remain catchy, funny, and surprisingly well-written. That’s no small achievement considering they were originally created to parody heavy metal.
There are also flashes of the old magic. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer haven’t forgotten who these characters are. Even after decades apart, slipping back into Nigel, David, and Derek feels effortless. When the film remembers to let the trio simply interact, it occasionally finds the same dry absurdity that made the original a classic.
The new drummer is a welcome addition, bringing genuine energy whenever she’s on screen, and the daughter of the band’s late manager provides a perfectly serviceable reason to drag everyone back together for one last tour.
Sir Paul McCartney proves to be an unexpectedly charming interview subject, happily discussing Spinal Tap as though they were peers, and Elton John is clearly having fun with the material. The celebrity cameos generally work because the guests understand exactly what movie they’re supposed to be in.
There are even a handful of genuinely funny lines scattered throughout the picture. Unfortunately, far too many of them arrive during the closing credits.
The Bad
The obvious question hanging over the entire production is: why now? The answer is apparently legal. The band members and Rob Reiner spent years fighting over the rights to Spinal Tap, and only recently regained control of the property. That certainly explains why the sequel exists, but it doesn’t explain why this particular sequel exists.
There were countless better moments to revisit these characters. Imagine Spinal Tap trying to survive the rise of grunge in the early 1990s. Imagine the band attempting to reinvent themselves during the reunion tours of the 2000s. Either concept practically writes itself. Instead, we get a film built almost entirely around the fact that everyone is now very, very old.
The pacing reflects that unfortunate reality. There are long stretches where characters simply sit and reminisce. The movie even jokes about how much sitting everyone does, but acknowledging a problem isn’t the same thing as fixing it.
The original moved with the confidence of an actual rock documentary. This one often feels like spending an afternoon listening to old musicians tell stories in a retirement home. Sometimes quite literally.
Even worse, many of the callbacks misunderstand why the original jokes worked. Rather than building on classic moments, the sequel mostly repeats them with diminishing returns. Instead of discovering new absurdities in the music business, it settles for reminding us of better jokes from forty years ago.
Watching the film, I found myself rewriting scenes in my head in real time. That’s never a good sign. There are so many obvious comedic opportunities left untouched that it’s difficult not to imagine funnier alternatives.
The Ugly
Where the sequel truly stumbles is its complete lack of commitment. The original This Is Spinal Tap was fearless. It constantly escalated every ridiculous situation until it became unforgettable. Here, nearly every promising setup fizzles before reaching its logical conclusion.
The Stonehenge sequence, for example, contains the seeds of an excellent payoff but rushes through it so quickly that the audience barely has time to anticipate the disaster. Comedy often depends on timing, and this film repeatedly abandons setups just before they become funny.
The new antagonist contributes almost nothing to the story despite occupying a surprising amount of screen time. His best joke arrives during the end credits, “The problem with Acapella Rap Groups is that there’s a thin line between rapping…and saying threats loudly that rhyme.” which unintentionally summarizes the entire experience: by the time the movie remembers how to be funny, it’s already over.
More frustrating is the film’s refusal to embrace finality. If you’re going to call this the band’s last performance, then let it actually be their last performance. The story constantly hints at going out with one spectacular, gloriously over-the-top farewell, only to pull its punches every single time. For a movie about one of rock’s most accident-prone bands, it’s oddly cautious.
Rob Reiner’s direction is similarly subdued. The original mockumentary felt alive, with awkward pauses serving the comedy instead of replacing it. Here, the pauses often become the joke, and too frequently they’re simply pauses. The result is a film that mistakes slowness for subtlety.
The Rob Reiner Problem
As boring and sad Spinal Tap II: When Will This End was before Rob Reiner and his wife were brutally murdered by their own son (allegedly as of this review, but still) his sudden tragic death certainly does not help matters. I mean, it does not make the movie funnier.
Considering one of my chief complaints with the Spinal Tap sequel is a lack of gruesome or humorous band deaths, (By the end I was rooting for Stonehenge to take out everyone including Elton… okay, especially Elton.)
Or, you know, they could have accidentally killed Paul McCartney. Imagine the last half of the film being slapstick as they try to hide Paul’s body before the big show. Then end with a Blues Brothers-style chase with Elton getting gunned down in his duck suit by New Orleans police while escaping into the swamp.
I digress, however. Unfortunately, instead of spending the film daydreaming of a dead Paul hidden in a drum set, I am faced with poor Rob a few months from his death. As I write this today, I hear that Kaylee Hottle from a movie I just reviewed, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, died at eighteen in a car accident. Would that have changed the way I view some of her scenes? Yes probably, Much like Tony Todd’s real-life disease and death made his scenes more poignant in Bloodlines.
If Rob Reiner had died of old age I don’t think there would have been any issues. (I mean most of the cast were in danger of that between filming and release). Alas the nature of Rob’s death compounds the tragedy.
Also, having a rock documentary set in New Orleans and no one flashes their tits or visits a voodoo shop or gets eaten by an alligator while dressed as a duck? I mean, that is cinematic malpractice right there.
In Conclusion
This Is Spinal Tap remains a perfect 10 out of 10 comedy. It belongs alongside Airplane!, Ghostbusters, and Caddyshack as one of the defining comedies of its era, and remarkably, it still works just as well today.
Spinal Tap II never embarrasses itself on the catastrophic level of something like Caddyshack 2 or Son of the Mask, but that’s faint praise. It’s less a triumphant reunion than an extended nostalgia session featuring characters who deserved a sharper script and a director willing to take bigger comedic swings.
There are moments that remind you why you loved Spinal Tap in the first place, and hearing these old songs performed again carries an undeniable charm. But charm can only carry a comedy so far. By the twenty-minute mark, I found myself wondering if the band should have stayed retired.
I also cannot emphasize how much funnier the closing credits are than the actual movie. It is the most bizarre thing. I genuinely wanted to love this movie. Instead, I just wanted to watch the original again.
