Revisiting 'This Is Spinal Tap'

Yesterday was a rough day for me, for reasons that shall remain undiscussed. BUT, it just so happens that last weekend I came into possession of the magnificent Criterion laserdisc pictured above of This Is Spinal Tap, a movie I haven't seen since sometime in the '80s and which I've been adamant about rewatching before I see the sequel that got released last year. 

So of course, I figured last night that it might be precisely the right time to do just that, in order to buoy my spirits. And I'm happy to report that boy, was it ever.

For a little background, when I first watched Spinal Tap as a kid, it was at the suggestion of one of my neighborhood buddies, who thought it was a riot ... and I didn't get it at all. At that stage of my life, I was absolutely obsessed with the Marx Brothers (not that I don't still revere them), and this neighborhood buddy didn't really cotton to their style of humor. He was more of a Three Stooges guy. So you might say I thought his taste was rather "pedestrian," and Spinal Tap, at the time, seemed to me like dumb comedy, to put it bluntly.

Obviously, I was just an idiot kid and didn't know what I was watching. In hindsight, after discovering the pure genius years later of Christopher Guest's films—in particular Best in Show and A Mighty Wind—I knew I had completely missed the mark. 

So now, finally, I can say I've watched Spinal Tap with the worldly knowledge necessary to truly appreciate it, and man, what a masterpiece. I hate how cliché this sounds, but it was so ahead of its time, it's really no wonder I just didn't get it. It was for comedies what Night of the Living Dead was for horror movies: something so totally new and different, it literally hatched an entire subgenre.

There was, naturally, a bit of bittersweetness to watching it, what with Rob Reiner's utterly tragic ending. But at the same time, it brought me such immense joy to see him relishing in what I now understand was such impish glee at what he was doing. Like a prankster pulling his greatest practical joke.

And the appearances! Dana Carvey, Billy Crystal, Fran Drescher (looking unspeakably hot, I must say), Howard Hesseman, Paul Shaffer, Angelica Huston ... the list goes on.

I should add that there's an entire second disc of supplementals included with my new acquisition that I'll have to explore at a later date. But this instantly became one of the most prized lasers in my collection. I look forward to many future viewings.