Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (dir. Rob Reiner)
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 84 mins
UK Distributor: Sony Pictures
UK Release Date: 12 September 2025
WHO’S IN SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES?
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, John Michael Higgins, Jason Acuña, Nina Conti, Griffin Matthews, Kerry Godliman, Chris Addison, Brad Williams, Paul Shaffer, Kathreen Khavari, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Questlove, Trisha Yearwood, Chad Smith, Lars Ulrich
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Rob Reiner (director, writer, producer), Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer (writers), Matthew George and Michele Reiner (producers), Lincoln Else (cinematographer), Bob Joyce (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The aging members of rock band Spinal Tap reunite for one last concert…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES?
Here we are with yet another sequel to a comedy classic that – surprise, surprise – is nowhere near as funny as the original. We’ve seen this situation time and time again as follow-ups to films like Zoolander, Dumb and Dumber, Coming to America, The Blues Brothers and more all failed, sometimes quite disastrously, to match the natural gag rate of their predecessors, many of which still get more laughs today than most current comedies. The simple truth is that most of these comedy sequels, especially the ones made decades afterwards, spend way too much time on recycled jokes that may have previously earned big laughs instead of coming up with fresher material, which only reminds the audience even more of how much funnier and fresher the original movie was, something that the paler imitation you’re watching can never truly be.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is certainly no exception to that truth. While it’s perhaps not as terrible as some of the much worse comedy sequels out there – primarily because, unlike most of them, there are at least a couple of decent laughs to be found here – the long-in-development follow-up to director Rob Reiner’s satirical mockumentary This is Spinal Tap doesn’t even come close to matching the genuine hilarity and intelligence of what came before.
Reiner also reprises his on-screen role as Marty DiBergi, the filmmaker who once followed the members of British rock band Spinal Tap – including lead guitarist Nigel Tuffnel (Christopher Guest), lead vocalist David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and lead bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) – on their disastrous US tour. Now, the band has broken apart and are living more pedestrian lives, with Nigel running a cheese-and-guitar shop, David composing music for podcasts, on-hold phone music, and low-rent horrors such as Night of the Assisted Living Dead, and Derek in charge of a glue museum. Soon, though, the band is brought back together by Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), the daughter of their late cricket bat-wielding manager Ian Faith, for a contractually-obligated final concert in New Orleans, kicking off a string of mishaps that are all too conveniently captured by DiBergi.
The true novelty of This is Spinal Tap, aside from its sharp improv and hilarious physical comedy, was the fact that it actually looked and felt like a music documentary from the 70s or 80s, with Reiner framing the utterly absurd antics of the band as though they were actual unscripted moments captured on grainy film cameras, which added to the authenticity and therefore the joke itself. But while this movie retains the structure of a documentary, albeit a more modern-feeling one, the authentic nature is no longer there, as you’ll constantly be wondering how this in-movie filmmaking team was able to capture certain angles and seamlessly edit them together like it’s a more straightforward film, which more often than not takes you out of the scene that they’re trying to make feel more real than it actually comes across as. It’s also got a much more polished look this time round instead of the grainy film aesthetic of the original, which one can overlook in today’s more digital era, but it’s shot and lit so brightly and with much sturdier camerawork, to a point where it feels like you’re watching a one-off sketch for a late-night talk show rather than a sequel to something that prides itself on its intentionally gritty style.
Worse still, the film offers little new material, relying way too heavily on callbacks and popular songs from the original to drudge up nostalgia among its audience. While it’s fun hearing some of the fictional band’s more outlandish tracks again after all these years, there’s nothing new added to them that freshens their appeal, aside from the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John randomly popping in and jamming along to the songs, but even then the only thing that’s different this time round is that it’s Paul McCartney and Elton John singing the exact same songs we heard last time. There are further cameos from memorable characters like Fran Drescher as put-upon publicist Bobbi Flekman and Paul Shaffer as the weirdly subservient promoter Artie Fufkin, but their appearances are extremely brief and could easily be cut out of the movie as they add nothing other than yet more reminders of how much funnier the first film was.
That’s what Spinal Tap II: The Legend Continues ultimately boils down to: it just isn’t funny, or at least not enough to even compete on the same level as This is Spinal Tap. Occasionally there are some chuckles from the sharp improv skills of the leads, as well as other players like Chris Addison as an abrasive new manager who has no concept of music whatsoever (why he’s even in this job in the first place should be the joke, but this isn’t a smart enough film to explore that concept), but few of the occurring gags, both new and old, don’t land so naturally and often make you remember that you’re watching a comedy where most of the people seem to be in on the joke, which didn’t feel like the case before. It’s all very been-there-done-that, and unless that’s all you want from a sequel to This is Spinal Tap it offers little more than what that movie did, and much better as well.
In all, while it’s a step above comedy sequels like Zoolander 2 and Blues Brothers 2000, both of which dropped the ball way worse on their predecessor’s legacy than this one does, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues just feels like a huge missed opportunity, because there’s plenty that could be done with seeing how these aging rockers and their music may not fit too well in today’s more PC world. Instead, Reiner and his bandmates rely too much on the classics to bring anything new to the stage, leaving it a low-energy encore that nobody asked for.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues might not be among the worst decades-later comedy sequels, but its lack of consistent laughs and heavy reliance on nostalgia for the original mockumentary classic, with even its authenticity replaced with more aware gags and celebrity cameos, keeps it far from eleven.
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