There isn’t exactly a great track record for comedy sequels, and the few that stand out as being completely successful (“Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” or “Wayne’s World 2”) tend to benefit from the momentum of an immediate success. It’s far harder to revitalize a property that has already developed a unique cultural legacy, inspiring imitators and rip-offs, and there aren’t many comedies from the last several decades as influential as “This Is Spinal Tap.” Rob Reiner’s quintessential 1984 masterpiece isn’t only one of the funniest films ever made, but also an insightful exposé of the unusual behavior of metal bands, which some musicians declared shockingly, almost painfully authentic.
“This Is Spinal Tap” pioneered the mockumentary format even before one of its stars, Christopher Guest, made a career out of the subgenre. It felt like a slice of reality that was only slightly removed, as these bizarre characters were placed within a world that felt tangible. While it didn’t seem like a sequel was on anyone’s mind, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” is essentially a reunion concert of a legacy band. It’s fun to see everyone back together, and while there are moments where the nostalgia runs high, it’s ultimately a ceremonial experience that can’t replicate the past.
Set forty years after the original classic, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” begins with Reiner reprising his role as Marti DeBirgi, the documentarian who first captured the behind-the-scenes of the band Spinal Tap in 1984. DeBirgi returns to visit the former guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), the lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and the bass player Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), who have all taken up part-time jobs playing music in different forms.
Although Tony Hedra, who portrayed the manager Ian Faith in the original film, passed away in 2021, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” features an appearance by Kerry Godliman as the character’s daughter, Hope. After learning that Hope has inherited a contract for the original members of Spinal Tap to perform another show together, Marti decides to once again document the chaos that unfolds when the idiosyncratic musicians perform together.
To the sequel’s credit, it does a good job at continuing the threads teased at the end of the original film, which lampooned the ways in which each band member would awkwardly try to pick up a seemingly “normal” profession after living the eccentric lives of a star. The idea that none of them amounted to anything over the course of four decades is funny in theory, but the film has little room to add jokes that feel expected. Guest adds some solid laughs, given the hilarious concept that Nigel now runs a “cheese and guitar” shop, but the majority of the humor is aimed at lampooning how out-of-touch the characters are.
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Although “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” doesn’t make the mistake of turning its legacy characters into sad, bitter characters who now resent what they once represented (a mistake made in long-anticipated sequels like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” or “Jurassic World Dominion”), there simply isn’t much dramatic tension when the most critical disagreements can be dismissed with a few lines.
There’s also a lack of density to the scenes, which often play out like bad improv, and not genuine authenticity; although there are clever ideas behind David composing music for a true crime podcast or Elton John showing up to a recording, the scenes stretch on to the point that the jokes are run into the ground.
The fine line that the original “This Is Spinal Tap” walked was finding the right degree of ridiculousness, as the film worked because it was a satire, and not a farce. Unfortunately, it’s too often that “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” resorts to characterizing the entire music industry as heightened and absurd. This wouldn’t be as big an issue if there were salient points being made about how chaotic the industry had gotten in the four decades since the original film came out, but the joke that the characters are now irrelevant is unfortunately true of the film. It feels like Reiner, like his character, is grasping to reckon with a business that he no longer understands.
Although his 21st century output wouldn’t indicate it, Reiner was once considered to be one of the finest directors of his era. His unimpeachable run of the original “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men,” and “The American President” rivals that of Wilder, Kubrick, Scorsese, or Allen. The unfortunate reality is that the old-fashioned, makeshift blend of sincerity and whimsy that Reiner perfected ran dry when Hollywood gave less freedom to its studio productions.
Even if the original “This Is Spinal Tap” was a cult sensation that was later reclaimed as a masterwork, its sequel feels like a slapdash collection of vignettes that were thrown together as an excuse to get everyone back together. There are worse ways to spend 84 minutes, but there are home media bonus features with more nuance than “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”
Unsurprisingly, the truly magical moments in “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” involve the characters singing, as the joy of seeing a group of wacky bandmates creating something as bonkers as it is strangely enthralling hasn’t waned in forty years. There’s never the sense that the actors are unengaged, and the film even seems to find its footing as it builds up to a climactic final sequence before ending rather abruptly.
If anything, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” feels like the pilot for a revival series that was aimed at teasing its own potential. However, the standalone film is devoid of concrete ideas and relies on a mockumentary format that feels far less groundbreaking than it did in 1984. While “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” is worth watching for devoted fans of the original, it’s much more of a curious thought exercise than it is a satisfying sequel.
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