Blu-ray review: ‘This is Spinal Tap’

“These go to 11.”

“It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.”

“We’ve got Armadillos in our trousers. It’s really quite frightening.”

It’s exhausting, and simultaneously exhilarating, to recall all the great lines from Rob Reiner’s 1982 uber-classic “This is Spinal Tap.”

The film, released on Blu-ray for the first time this week (July 28), is so iconic, so often quoted and so mercilessly spot on with its satire that it flirts with perfection.

The story by now is the stuff of comedy legend. Spinal Tap, a heavy metal outfit from the U.K., embarks on a U.S. tour to promote their latest release, “Smell the Glove.”

But the band’s fame is waning, and they find themselves dealing with show cancellations, dust ups over the cover of their new album and other humiliations which cut the band’s collective ego down to the quick.

Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest prove utterly convincing as the aging rockers, performing their own songs with just the right amount of musicianship and swagger.

Kudos to the editing team behind the film, cutting away whenever a droll line is said – which happens aplenty here. It’s that timing that flows throughout the production, which clearly drew upon the improv skills of its key players.

The film’s story arc is just as compelling. When Tap still thinks its a chart-topping act the guitarist throws a fit over the size of the bread in the green room. The band’s manager denies their shrinking fan base and smooths over the initial insults to the band’s legacy – until the incredibly shrinking tour proves too big to cover up.

The cheeky cameos come at you in a blur, from a glorious Fran Drescher before she stereotyped herself as “The Nanny” to Bruno Kirby bemoaning Tap’s lack of class – and staying power.

And let’s praise Paul Shaffer for his obsequious record promoter who implores the band to kick his arse when a record store promotion goes awry.

Reiner’s first film is a stunner, a comedy which set the template for the mockumentary format and remains its high point.

And darn if the make believe band’s songs aren’t a pleasure to hear when they’re not side-splitting funny. Even “Listen to the Flower People” nails the psychedlic era while setting up camp in your head.

The Blu-ray “Tap” comes loaded with extras, from commentaries and outtakes to a funny faux press conference circa the “Flower People” invasion which tweaks those early Beatles Q&As.

A standalone segment catching up with director Martin DiBergi (Reiner) falls flat, and most of the excised footage does the same. The best bits involve Billy Crystal mugging it up as a mime food server during the record label party scene.

Hair-heavy metal isn’t the cultural force it once was, but “This is Spinal Tap” retains every ounce of its creative intensity and blazing humor.

(Photo: Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) licks it up in “This is Spinal Tap,” now available on Blu-ray/Courtesy of MGM Home Entertainment)

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