This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Every working musician has lived at least one scene from this mockumentary: the gig billed below a puppet show, the stage prop built to the wrong size, the drummer nobody can keep. Rob Reiner's film follows a fading British metal band on a disastrous American tour, and it is still the funniest movie ever made about being in a band. The joke only lands because the music is played straight: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer have recorded and played live in character for decades, and songs like Big Bottom are dumb in exactly the right way. A belated sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, reunited the trio in 2025 for a contractually obligated reunion show; reviews were mixed, so start with the original.