Some of the offerings on the 2025 movie calendar have proved that it’s never too late to revisit an old classic. We’ve had I Know What You Did Last Summer (which came 19 years after its previous installment), The Naked Gun (31 years after its last movie), and now there’s Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which has both of those beat with 41 years separating it from 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap. Critics have seen the highly anticipated sequel to one of the best music movies ever made, so does it go to 11?
Critics are weighing in on the return of Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), as filmmaker Marty Di Bergi (Rob Reiner) documents the band’s reunion and final show. Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence gives the rockumentary Spinal Tap II: The End Continues an A-, calling it a “joyful, music-filled ride” that’s worthy of the band’s legacy. She writes:
Spinal Tap II is not exactly a movie you would describe as being plot-heavy. To say it has much in the way of forward momentum would be inaccurate — despite the countdown to their big show looming, there’s not much tension about whether they’ll make it to the stage or be a success. And yet it still stands out as a deeply enjoyable viewing experience, and a singular one: It’s a movie about older men looking back at their lives and the relationships that have defined them, in a way that’s only possible after at least five decades of real-life friendship.
Indeed, the trio have been playing together as Spinal Tap for decades (and as The Folksmen from A Mighty Wind), so the comfortability between the actors adds to the nostalgia factor that The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck notes in his assessment. There’s plenty to enjoy, he says, inspiring giggles if not guffaws. The critic continues:
The humor is very droll and deadpan but more chuckle-inducing than hysterically funny. As with so many belated follow-ups, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues mainly coasts on nostalgia and affection for the original, to the point where it includes cameos from such veterans of the first film as Fran Drescher and Paul Schaffer.
Clint Gage of IGN rates it an “Okay” 6 out of 10, saying it doesn’t live up to the original, but with many fans considering it the funniest movie they’ve seen in their life, he says it’s also kind of unfair to expect it to. Rob Reiner and three stars are clearly having a blast being back together, and the result is a comedy that’s “absolutely fine.” Gage writes:
The return of legendary metal band Spinal Tap, some 40 years after the documentary that charted their slow descent from relevance, is a nostalgic and welcome reunion tour. Unfortunately, it’s not much beyond that. While it picks up threads from the original, like the mysterious curse of their dying drummers or stage props misbehaving, nothing gets anywhere close to the original. It’s a high bar to set, and perhaps asking too much to follow in such iconic footsteps after so many years, but that’s the danger baked-in to a project like this.
Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire also gives it a middling grade of C+, saying this one will be appreciated by those who love the first movie, fans of Christopher Guest’s other mockumentaries, and audience members who are high. Says the critic:
A heart-on-its-sleeve, inoffensive, and amusing sequel about the legacies we run away from only to come crashing back into them in middle or later age, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a movie that would probably be really funny if you were high. The laughs are mostly dry and deadpan, depending on your closeness to and fondness for the material — in other words, very much in line with the mockumentary world of producer Christopher Guest, from Best in Show to A Mighty Wind.
John Nugent of Empire gives it just 2 stars out of 5, saying the brilliance of This Is Spinal Tap makes the disappointment of Spinal Tap II that much more crushing. “It’s as unfunny as the original was funny,” writes Nugent, who continues:
Such absence of successful comedy is just heartbreaking. The only saving grace is that the band’s musicianship is never in doubt, from their first a cappella together to full-throated renditions of classics like ‘Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight’. Tap may have lost a bit of their mojo over the years, but their rock chops are at least still as loud as ever.
Many of the critics admit that The End Continues isn’t as good as the 1984 cult classic, but considering how tall an order that is, I don’t think that should deter people from checking this one out when it hits theaters on Friday, September 12.