10 Movies That Are Still Great After Twenty Viewings

5. This Is Spinal Tap

There is (inarguably) no comedy movie with as many great "scenes" as This Is Spinal Tap, and that's because This Is Spinal Tap is made up entirely of great scenes - there is not a single second of this masterpiece that lags, drags or goes wrong. Not to mention the fact that the deft combination of scripted scenes and improvisation imbues Rob Reiner's flick with a sense of "freshness" thirty years after it first hit cinemas.

Which is another way of saying: this comedy is as hilarious now as it was back in 1984. How does Spinal Tap remain so damn watchable, twenty viewings later? Let us count the ways: the sheer number of running gags glimpsed throughout its runtime, the inspired musical numbers, quotes like "Mime is money," the sheer lovability of its beautifully naive characters, Ian's cricket bat, the fact that it's a mockumentary and was way ahead of its time... There are countless reasons in total, and to list them all here would be a waste of time.

You're far better off just watching the movie again for the twenty-first time. You'll laugh just as much as you ever did; kind of a guarantee when it comes to This Is Spinal Tap, a comedy that - through its willingness to embrace a sense of heart as well as comedy (in perfect measure, may we add) has rendered itself "classic."