Spinal Tap II – The End Continues (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Sep 11
4 min read

Updated: Oct 2

SPINAL TAP II – THE END CONTINUES (2025)

Featuring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, June Chadwick, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, John Michael Higgins, Jason Acuña, Nina Conti, Griffin Matthews, Kerry Godliman, Chris Addison, Valerie Franco, Caucasian Jeff, Brad Williams, Paul Shaffer, Kathreen Khavari, Henry Diltz, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Questlove, Chad Smith and Lars Ulrich.

Written by Christopher Guest & Michael McKean & Harry Shearer & Rob Reiner.

Directed by Rob Reiner.

Distributed by Bleecker Street. 84 minutes. Rated R.

It’s never easy to try to replicate one of the great comedies of all time, so if the 41-year-delayed Spinal Tap II is not as good as This is Spinal Tap, is that such a horrible thing?

Actually, Spinal Tap II is more like a better version of the long-forgotten 1992 straight-to-video comeback film The Return of Spinal Tap, which was essentially a concert video for their comeback tour for the Break Like the Wind album with comic bits mixed in.

The original movie was far more cutting, satirizing the craziness of the music world, looking at a group of men who are – to quote one of the fake record reviews in the film – “treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality & bad poetry.” It is about a group that is steeped in the culture and is losing ground. The filmmakers knew the record industry and made it uncomfortable for people who lived in that world. Many, many musicians said that they didn’t find This is Spinal Tap funny, they found it kind of horrifying.

Spinal Tap II is much more benign and whimsical. These men are years outside of this world. The humor of the sequel revolves more around the fact that the group has grown old and aged away from the scene rather than being an incisive look at music. In fact, the whole point of the film is a bit of a redemption story for the group, the band has long been retired and suddenly has the opportunity thrust upon them for one last big show.

Which is fine, this type of story has been done often before, and it is usually a winning situation. Everybody loves a comeback story.

It tends to be amusing where the original film was hysterical. Which is not to say that it can’t be funny or enjoyable in a nostalgic way (there is a lot of fan service here), it’s just not nearly as memorable as the first. No one will likely become as obsessive about Spinal Tap II as they did with the first film. Nor will it likely drop catch phrases into the popular culture, like for example, “This one goes to eleven” and “It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever” from This is Spinal Tap.

But is the world better off having a bit more Spinal Tap? I think so.

If nothing else, it is a fantastic opportunity to listen to a lot of great music. Yes, Spinal Tap was a joke band, but that doesn’t mean that the music was sub-par. Actually, all three comedians who formed the group had histories in bands and a smart understanding of music theory and genres. Spinal Tap II mines from music throughout the fictional band’s career. Not just from This is Spinal Tap but also several songs from the Break Like the Wind album, as well as one song from the 2009 collection Back From the Dead. There is even a new original song called “Rockin’ in the Urn.”

It is kind of a disappointment that Spinal Tap II rolls out a bunch of music celebrity cameos – Elton John, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Questlove, Chad Smith (of Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Lars Ulrich (of Metallica) – to try to give the band some music business gravitas. The original film didn’t stoop to that kind of bells and whistles.

Also, am I the only one who is a little disappointed that they finally got a size-appropriate prop for their concert performance of “Stonehenge,” which they also end up performing with mega-star Elton John? I suppose it’s nice and all, but the joke of a tiny Stonehenge monument was one of the biggest laughs in the original because of the band’s incompetence, while this new one is much less interesting as a crowning achievement of their career.

First of all, it makes no narrative sense – would they really build something this large and cumbersome, all just for a one-time usage? And while they do end up coming up with something subversive to do with the new monument, the joke itself – like the monument – is a bit too big and too unwieldy. It’s sort of the difference between a laugh and a nod.

Still, I have fond feelings for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. It is in no way as groundbreaking, or even as necessary, as its successor. Nor will it likely reward regular rewatching like the original did. However, if I get to spend another hour and a half with these terrific characters – even if they are older and less sharp – I’m all in.

This one goes to seven. Which is probably the best we could have expected, and better than it may have been.

Jay S. Jacobs