‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’ review: Mockumentary sequel is a joy

12 Sep 2025, 10:00 by Gemma Wilson · The Seattle Times

Movie review

The crimped hair may be gray, but the hair metal still rocks: Spinal Tap is back, baby.

That’s right, one of England’s loudest and most punctual (and still fictional) heavy metal bands is getting back together for one last show, because it’s contractually obligated to do so. And one dedicated filmmaker is there to capture the process.

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Much as in the 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” starts with an introduction from Rob Reiner (the film’s actual director) appearing as filmmaker Marty DiBergi, who fell hard for a band called Spinal Tap in the 1960s and ended up chronicling a fateful American tour 20 years later.

Let’s meet that band: Nigel Tufnel, lead guitar (Christopher Guest); David St. Hubbins, lead singer (Michael McKean); Derek Smalls, bass (Harry Shearer); and a series of drummers who just kept dying. (Reiner, Guest, McKean and Shearer also co-wrote “This Is Spinal Tap” and “STII,” and most of the Spinal Tap songs within them.)

“This Is Spinal Tap” gifted us with the expression “turn it up to 11,” popularized the modern mockumentary genre (and the word mockumentary) and propelled the careers of actor-improvisers who have gone on to create some incredible comedy over the past several decades — Shearer most notably as a voice actor on “The Simpsons,” Guest as the creator of mockumentary style films including “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show,” which McKean has also appeared in.

One of the marvels of the 1984 film is its earnestness, a bone-deep sincerity that plumbed new depths in the drama-as-comedy of the mockumentary style.

Since 1984, the members of Spinal Tap have played live, released short films and music videos, and recorded albums with songs that have genuinely landed on the charts. (If you’re having trouble keeping fact separated from fiction, don’t worry, you’re not alone.)

But 15 years ago, for mysterious reasons, they stopped playing together or speaking to each other. What happened? And where have Nigel, David and Derek been all these years?

Here are just a few of the answers revealed in “STII”: running a cheese and guitar shop in a quaint English village; playing in a California mariachi band and scoring murder podcasts; and running a glue museum and maybe getting involved in a crypto scam.

After Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood put the band’s song “Big Bottom” back into the zeitgeist (sample lyric: “I saw her on Monday, twas my lucky bun day”), the daughter of Spinal Tap’s deceased former manager cashes in on a contract she inherited that requires one final performance from Spinal Tap.

And so, the band gets back together, with some special guest stars. After more than 40 years in the rock trenches, these blokes have some street cred, but I won’t spoil the film’s high-wattage musical appearances for you.

One newcomer worth mentioning is an incredibly funny performance by Chris Addison as Spinal Tap’s new agent, who is obsessed with living in a post-K-pop world, would be very happy if one of the band members died for publicity reasons, and suffers from a medical condition “called Saint Cecelia’s Curse; I can’t process music or replicate it.”

As the latest chapter in a long-standing story, the film does exactly what it’s supposed to do: lets us spend some time with characters we love and meet them anew now that they’re all in their late 70s or early 80s, and reminds us of the greatest hits without dwelling too much in old footage.

It doesn’t have the same wild unfamiliar sparkle as the original, but that’s the point. The joys of this film are similar to the joys of a beloved (real) band’s reunion concert: watching decades of personal and musical history play out onstage, cheering for the revolutionaries of their day and, in the case of the actor-creators of Spinal Tap, seeing what more than 40 years of commitment to a bit — and to each other — really looks like.

“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” ★★★½ (out of four)
With Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer. Directed by Rob Reiner, from a screenplay by Guest, McKean, Reiner and Shearer. 83 minutes. Rated R for language including some sexual references. Playing at multiple theaters.