The original movie 'This is Spinal Tap', filmed by amateur movie maker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), is a very funny spoof of a heavy metal band. The actors playing 'Spinal Tap' made up songs for use in the documentary -er 'Rockumentary' -er mockumentary. We see the band at the coliseum - unable to find their way to the stage, or saying, "hello Detroit" when they're in Cleveland, or on stage in the midst of various technical or prop-difficulties. It's very funny. Listed as one of the top cult films of all time I think. I give the original 9 stars. In the original movie, at times the jokes go too far. When the guitarist repeatedly insists his amp is goes louder, because, "it goes to 11", it's obvious the guitarist couldn't really be that dumb and so it's obvious the he's just an actor repeating a line. When a joke becomes too mean, perhaps, it's not funny anymore, except for nervous/fear laughter. Still, today, radio stations across the dial advertise, "crank it up to 11. . ."To a certain extent, in hind-site, I think the joke is on the fearful who do laugh 'at' Spinal Tap rather than laughing with them. Their big song in the original mockumentary is 'Big Bottoms' - "Big Bottoms, big bottoms, talk about bum-cakes my girls got'em". And there's the scene where their record label won't print the cover photo for their album 'Smell the Glove' because it's too 'sexist'. I know, to this day, if someone says something to me, like, "Talk to the hand", I'm liable to respond with, "Smell the Glove".Spinal Tap's actually helped me appreciate metal bands. For example, I'm not a fan of hard or punk rock, or metal bands that mostly have a hard rock sound, tho I am a big metal fan - each song in these mockumentaries seems to spoof a different band/style of metal music, and Spinal Tap are just so harmless and amusing they've helped me appreciate some of these other styles more. In '25th Anniversary Sell-Out' they continue the joke from the previous movie, pretending to be a real band. Of course, they now know Marty DiBergi, who filmed 'This is Spinal Tap', made fools out of them in the first movie! as witnessed by this extra footage added on after the end of the first movie, Nigel Tufnel: I think his real last name is DiBergarmo.David St. Hubbins: No!Derek Smalls: No, his real last name is DiBergowitz.Nigel Tufnel: Yeah! DiBergowitz. David St. Hubbins: No! He's like one of those... Derek Smalls: Yeah, he is one of those. Check it out: DiBergowitz! It's pretty funny. For this movie, '25th anniversary sell-out', Spinal Tap operate the cameras themselves. They turn the tables on film maker Marty DiBergi, showing up at his 'office' and putting him on film. Marty's office seems to be a pay phone inside a pub (he's given the phone number of this public phone out as his office number) and he's waiting by the phone fruitlessly for other offers to come in after his movie 'This is Spinal Tap'. They don't have 'Martyy DiBergi' for this film, so, of course, this film isn't that good! Duh. It's a bit funny but 'The 25th Anniversary Sell-Out' isn't as amusing, or a good as 'This is Spinal Tap'. I like the music tho, so I go ahead and give it an extra star or two.

Those who loved This Is Spinal Tap generally divide into two categories: those who love heavy metal and those who hate it. If you fall into the latter, The Return of Spinal Tap is probably not for you. If, on the other hand, you watched the movie and then went out and bought the soundtrack... it's definitely worth your time. You should know, though, what to expect beforehand. The Return of Spinal Tap is not a satire or a mockumentary like This Is Spinal Tap. It's nothing more and nothing less than Spinal Tap Live. Don't get me wrong: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are still funny as hell; but the brilliant commentaries carry less weight in favor of the music. And why not? The joke could never have been as funny the second time around, so instead, the three just decided to have some fun, returning to their beloved characters and living out the dream of doing a big rock concert in front of a huge crowd. Frankly, the concert segments are much funnier this time around, with the on-stage antics of the three brilliant comedians, as well as winks back to the first movie in segments like 'Rock N' Roll Creation' and 'Stonehenge'. Plus, you get to sing along to all the beloved, cheesy, brilliantly idiotic songs from the first movie, like 'Big Bottom', 'Sex Farm', 'Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight', '(Listen To The) Flower People', 'Hell Hole' and 'All The Way Home'. Also you get a bunch of great new songs like 'Bitch School', 'Break Like The Wind', 'Clam Caravan' and 'Cash On Delivery' with a rare lead vocal performance by Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer - by now, keep in mind, a Simpsons veteran).Before you watch The Return Of Spinal Tap, you should ask yourself two questions. The first is - do I really love Spinal Tap, or did I like it just for the satire? If you really loved the first movie, you'll love seeing the beloved old characters of Smalls, St. Hubbins and Tuffnel return. The second is - would I enjoy watching a Kiss concert? If you answered both these questions with a positive reply, watch it.

It was fun to watch Spinal Tap back in action 10 years on, and there was some humor in the (all too infrequent) interviews and bits. But it really isn't worth the effort to buy or put much time into finding this video.It doesn't feel like a cash-in; the product is not some c****y cop-out. No, the problem lies more in the same range as the problems with watching a Weird Al concert video - the joke just doesn't work if you weren't there in person. It becomes, at best, something that makes you raise a slight grin... whereas in person, the show was probably a blast.

Mildly disappointing "reunion" of the fictional band made famous by the wonderful mockumentary, THIS IS SPINAL TAP. Most of the film consists of concert footage, and though the actors do a more than credible job on-stage, you come away wishing there had been more interviews and gags. Almost all the best songs were featured in the original movie, although there is a wonderfully cynical finale. Not bad, but on a scale of 1 to 11, a very modest 6.