2. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Here it is:
the film about being in a band in at number two. I believe this is one of the best and funniest comedies ever made, purely on the grounds that it is filmed as a documentary, and what you see is pretty much exactly what being in a band is all about. Every band I have ever been in personally, the rehearsals have been riddled with references and homages to this iconic piece of cinema. Genius is a word that is thrown around far too much today, but This Is Spinal Tap is about as close to genius as Mozart's pants were. It harnesses the pure lunacy and ludicrous meanderings of being a musician, and the painful embarrassment and false idolisation of ones own talent. It is a biting satire of the bands of the 70s, but it does it all so tongue in cheek it makes it go numb. If you don't laugh at 'this one goes to 11,' then you are surely missing your soul. The thing that truly makes this film a great one, though, comes with the fact that most of the dialogue was ad-libbed by the cast, and it's this interplay between the actors sending up versions of famous musicians that truly sets the pants alight. Amongst all of the jokes and the absolutely side-splitting situations the band find themselves in, it is a fitting homage to being in a great rock band. It really does encapsulate the highs and lows of being in a band, which I am sure every musician can associate with in any context. This is Spinal Tap carries off the playful charm of ego, and puts it in all in hugely creative and genuinely hilarious cocktail. The playing the gigs at ridiculous locations (the airman's ball is a highlight), the stroke of brilliance that is the henge monument with midgets dancing around it in the centre of the stage (and the incredible band reactions to the size of the henge monument) and the exploding disappearing drummer are all at the epicentre of this extraordinary film about music and its related modes. In fact, as I write this I am actually laughing as I recall these scenes. Now I have to compose myself as I attempt to justify why This is Spinal Tap isn't number one.