The Dirt Review: 5 Ups & 7 Downs

6. Spinal Tap Did It Better

The single biggest problem with The Dirt for a lot of people will be that everything that it shows in earnest - the excess, the grotesque caricatures, the sheer, delicious idiocy of it all - has all been done before. And done in a way that they could never, ever compete with.

Step forward This Is Spinal Tap - a mockumentary so pin-sharp that everyone in a band around the time of its release believed themselves to be the inspiration. In reality, that film drew from multiple sources for a story so ridiculous it couldn't possibly be true. Unfortunately, Motley Crue's story was arguably even more silly, even more outrageous and even more over the top.

But in the wake of Spinal Tap owning cliches that they actually sought to lampoon, it's difficult to accept some of what's gone on here. It's like trying to watch a slasher movie in the wake of Scream - we're too aware.