{"id":12998,"date":"2025-09-13T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12998"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:34:09","slug":"spinal-tap-ii-the-end-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/09\/13\/spinal-tap-ii-the-end-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinal Tap II: The End Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Spinal Tap II: The End Continues<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bleecker Street\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 84 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language including some sexual references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rob Reiner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lincoln Else\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 12, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Valerie Franco, C.J. Vanston, Kerry Godliman, Chris Addison, Nina Conti, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Fran Drescher, Paul Shaffer, June Chadwick, Questlove, Chad Smith, Lars Ulrich, John Michael Higgins, Don Lake.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Be patient, I promise I\u2019m going somewhere with this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The 80s British metal band Def Leppard recently appeared on America\u2019s Got Talent. They performed \u201cPour Some Sugar on Me\u201d before a screaming audience. Even the judges were into it. I was mighty impressed myself. These guys are in their 60s now and they still rock.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When I first heard about Spinal Tap II: The End Continues<\/strong>, I thought, \u201cGreat. Here we go again with another belated sequel. Why now after 40 years?\u201d That\u2019s where the Def Leppard performance comes in. Something just clicked. It hit me like a psychic boomerang. Suddenly, I got what Rob Reiner was up to.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Spinal Tap II <\/strong>isn\u2019t just a needless sequel to a cult comedy beloved by movie geeks and metalheads alike. It\u2019s the next logical step in the fictional band\u2019s story. It happens in real life all time. Bands that were popular decades ago do reunion tours. The aging members get out there on stage and rock stadiums while their fans go crazy. The whole point of Reiner\u2019s new mockumentary (or if you will, \u201crockumentary\u201d) is goofing on this idea. Only this is Spinal Tap we\u2019re talking about here. Things will not go smoothly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Filmmaker Marty Di Bergi (Reiner) returns to do another documentary about Spinal Tap, this one centering on their final concert to be held in New Orleans. The guys- lead singer David St. Hubbins (McKean), lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Guest) and bassist Derek Smalls (Shearer)- haven\u2019t spoken in fifteen years. It all stems from some drama involving Nigel and David\u2019s now ex-wife Jeanine (Chadwick). They\u2019ve all gone their separate ways following new dreams. Nigel runs a guitar and cheese store with his girlfriend Moira (Conti). David composes scores for true crime podcasts and telephone hold messages. Derek owns a glue museum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Their contract, now in the hands of deceased manager Ian\u2019s daughter Hope (Godliman), says they have to perform one last concert. They agree, albeit unenthusiastically, to get back together for one more show. It\u2019s an uneasy reunion as the guys gear up for the show, a gig they wouldn\u2019t have if not for a last-minute cancellation by Stormy Daniels. Spinal Tap II <\/strong>follows them as they deal with the usual (and unusual) nonsense that comes with putting a concert together. The new manager, a corporate twit named Simon (Addison), has a disability. He can\u2019t comprehend music. Finding a new drummer is also on the agenda. It won\u2019t be easy finding one who isn\u2019t afraid of meeting the same fate as their previous eleven percussionists. A few big names (Questlove, Chad Smith and Lars Ulrich) turn down the gig before they bring female drummer Didi (Franco), a big Tap fan, into the fold. She\u2019s sure she can dodge the curse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Spinal Tap II<\/strong> is a movie for fans only. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to score big at the box office. It\u2019s a 41YO movie that most youngsters aren\u2019t familiar with. My friends and I were the only ones in the theater at yesterday evening\u2019s 6:30pm show. We enjoyed it. One of my pals sang along with them. They play the hits like \u201cHellhole\u201d, \u201cBig Bottom\u201d and (YES!) \u201cStonehenge\u201d. Elton John, appearing as himself, joins Tap on stage for that last number. It doesn\u2019t just go wrong again, it goes spectacularly wrong this time. It\u2019s one of many funny bits in the film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s been a lean period for comedy at the movies with laughless affairs like The Naked Gun and The Roses. Spinal Tap II<\/strong> has more genuine laughs than the two of them combined. Not every joke hits the mark, but the hits definitely outnumber the misses. A lot of the laughs come from callbacks to the original movie. Return appearances by Fran Drescher and Paul Shaffer will bring a smile to many faces. Paul McCartney shows up for a funny scene where Tap treats him dismissively when he offers advice while they\u2019re rehearsing a new song. You don\u2019t do that to a Beatle, guys!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Reiner, once one of the top directors in the industry, hasn\u2019t had a hit in years. The last one that did a lick of business was 2007\u2019s The Bucket List and it wasn\u2019t even all that great. I doubt Spinal Tap II<\/strong> will restore his place in Hollywood, but it shows he\u2019s still got something. The lead cast, they\u2019re all great. They understand their characters inside and out which shows in the effortless way they jump right back into their roles. Once again, their dialogue is largely improvised. It\u2019s so cool when a director has that much confidence in his actors. Franco makes a nice addition to the cast as the tattooed rocker girl who adroitly and brilliantly dodges Derek\u2019s attempt at a hook-up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t know what the future holds for Spinal Tap, but I hope Reiner doesn\u2019t wait so long to haul them out on stage for the next final tour.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bleecker Street\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 84 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language including some sexual references)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rob Reiner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Lincoln Else\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 12, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Christopher Guest, Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Spinal-Tap-II-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C773&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13014,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12998\/revisions\/13014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}