Rating: 
Summary: Read this for an unbiased review
Review: This movie has 4-5 very clever, very humorous scenes. For that alone, it was worth the .. rental and I don't regret doing so. That said, I can't help but express my disappointment in this film. I've never seen it prior to renting the Criterion DVD, and I've gone years hearing about how wonderful and hilarious this film was. I've seen "Waiting for Guffman", which was for most intents a spiritual successor to "This is Spinal Tap". With that in mind, I sat down to watch Spinal Tap.As I said above, the film had a few nice moments. But for the most part, the jokes are stale and you see them coming a MILE away. Perhaps in 1982 this boat would float, but not in the year 2000. I'm not a big Monty Python fan, but I did find "Waiting for Guffman" INFINITELY superior to this film. Guffman is more sophisticated, more clever, and much more taut as a comedy. Enduring a horrible 5 minute song just to harvest a few High School-calibre sex jokes is not my idea of good comedy, and This is Spinal Tap is NOT good comedy. All 3 lead actors do a competent job, the directing is nice, but the film is short on content. Too many songs, far too few backstage antics. It makes you wonder if we're actually supposed to be enjoying the music. If you're dying to see a good American comedy film check out Rushmore, Happiness, Waiting for Guffman, etc. Don't believe the hype...I did and I got burned.
Rating: 
Summary: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
Review: Stupid and boring. A few good chuckle moments, but primarily a near-post-adolescent bad boy movie. Sound track has problems, many spots where the sound does not sync with the action onscreen. Many sound dropouts. Purchase only if you absolutely need to see the cucumber scene again - and then only if your player has a fast forward scan button - you'll use it alot.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfection
Review: The funniest movie ever made. Period.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the DVD - NOT the VHS.
Review: Despite Tapster.com and the Spinal Tap website at MGM advertising one hour of new footage on tape and DVD, the VHS version that I ordered, which is the 2000 special edition, does NOT have these additions. This is a hugely funny movie as basically the version that came out in 1982, but this video is not worth buying twice. (It is almost exactly the same as the "old" video.) This re-release does not even have the two videos that appeared at the end of the original release. Shame on MGM! Amazon, I note, does correctly identify that the VHS is remastered but that the DVD has additional footage. I should have read Amazon's description and not relied on MGM's ad blitz which even today (September 18th, 2000) still has a note on their website promising 1 hour of new footage on VHS and DVD. They should have done it in Dobly.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for All Tap Fans!
Review: All Tap fans have to get this DVD! Even if you have the original tape or DVD this new release is a must have. First off there are more extras and special features on this DVD then any I have ever seen! In additon, there is a whole commentary feature option for the movie. This means you can watch the movie and switch to the commentary audio where the band talks about what is happening when the movie is playing. This feature alone makes this a must have. Lastly, all Tap fans will love the opening scene of the DVD before the features appear. VERY FUNNY!
Rating:
Summary: Tap your wallet and go buy this DVD.
Review: Having played music for a living for 5 years, I always think maybe I'm a bit bias on how much I love this movie. But what makes Spinal Tap so enjoyable besides the subject matter, is the formation of such likable characters. Chrisopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shear are just too good for words. They have managed to establish characters that equally laughable and likeable at the same time. That's quite an acomplishment. A movie like this only comes around once in awhile.
Rating:
Summary: The subtitles are there!
Review: As was a concern for some as far as the mastering of this DVD, the subtitles that are supposedly missing are actually on a seperate subtitle track afterall....but were added after they realized they had left them off........So it's there if you want them. This film is a comedy masterpiece for music fans in-the-know.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this DVD for the Extras!
Review: If you have seen Spinal Tap, do yourself a favor and buy this DVD for the extras. You will not regret it. There are four complete music videos on this disc. TV Commercials. An excerpt from a TV talk show. More outtakes than movie. Well worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: Tappers beware!
Review: This DVD apparently had some unspecified mastering problems that almost delayed its release. Maybe MGM should have delayed the release. Not only does the disc booklet not list the film's last three chapters, but the film itself lacks the original on-screen captions identifying characters, places, etc., thus making itself more bewildering. (For some reason, a Tap clip played during Rob Reiner's new interview has the clip's original caption.) Did the filmmakers intentionally remove the captions for this rerelease? If MGM did botch Spinal Tap, will the studio replace our DVDs with corrected copies, and with corrected booklets?
Rating:
Summary: The best DVD re-issue yet?!?!
Review: Of course, the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" is unbelievably hilarious. So if you've never seen "Spinal Tap" before, by all means, you must check this movie out! But what really makes this DVD edition shine is the sheer volume and quality of the extra footage... The extra footage on most DVD re-issues is usually pretty much just throwaway stuff; however, on this DVD, there is at least a full hour of outtakes that are almost all as funny as the parts that did end up in the film. The outtake scene involving the temporary replacement guitarist they got when Nigel left the band is worth the price of the DVD all by itself. It's almost as if they included an alternate "Spinal Tap" movie with different scenes and different jokes. The extra scenes show how the final cut of the movie removed all groupie/drug use scenes, all the more reason to prize this annotated collection. The music videos, press conferences, commercials, and other rarities are awesome. Simply put, this is an extremely comprehensive collection, I'm so pleased that all of this stuff has seent eh light of day.
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