DVD reviews from That Guy Named David.

This is Spinal Tap (C-) and Waiting for Guffman (A-)

I finally rounded out the Spinal Tap/Guffman/Best in Show/Mighty Wind group of satires and must admit that I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed when all was said and done. As to Spinal Tap, for years I had listened ad nauseam about the brilliance of this movie from the Movie Snob and another guy that used to post on this site. I was told repeatedly that it was arguably the best satire ever written, and if I didn't think it was better than sliced bread, then I was an unmasculine idiot (well, I think that was what was inferred after I said I thought it wasn't not anywhere near as good as sliced bread... or banana, raisin, garlic or several other types of bread). Simply put, blah. Spinal Tap was boring, the music was just plain stupid, and it failed to hit on the jokes that I was told made this such a great movie. Maybe I should have appreciated the fact it was the first of these movies and therefore cut it some slack, but on its face, I was far from impressed. Waiting for Guffman, however, brought me back to the reasons why I liked Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. The acting was great (Parker Posey is a comedic genius), and there were enough quirky one-liners and ridiculous scenes to keep me laughing throughout. So, in sum, I have discovered that, unlike the Star Wars series, Rocky, etc., sometimes the original is not all that it is cracked up to be, and it takes a little time to get it right.