The Classic Rob Reiner Movie With A Near-Perfect Score On Rotten Tomatoes

Late on December 14, 2025, came the news that legendary actor and director Rob Reiner was found dead with his wife at their home in California. He was 78. As of this writing, details are still scarce and we'll no doubt learn more information about the tragedy over the coming days. As tributes are sure to come pouring in from the many people who knew him and worked with him, we thought it was a good opportunity to shine a light on his all-time highest rated movie as both a director and an actor — 1984's "This Is Spinal Tap." It holds an incredibly impressive 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Starring Reiner as a documentary filmmaker named Marty Di Bergi, "This Is Spinal Tap" sees Di Bergi follow the titular band on what was supposed to be a comeback tour, but turned out to be anything but. Spinal Tap members David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) seem oblivious to the fact that their glory days are behind them, even as basically everything goes wrong with the tour and positive press about the band is difficult to come by.

While not technically the first mockumentary — a fictional movie or television show designed to look like a real documentary — "This Is Spinal Tap" certainly deserves a lot of the credit for modernizing and popularizing the concept. These days, there are no shortage of must-watch mockumentaries, but it's easy to make the case that any of the ones released since "This Is Spinal Tap" owe a debt of gratitude to what director Rob Reiner accomplished with his co-writers McKean, Guest, and Shearer. Remarkably, the movie still holds up all these years later, precisely because the mockumentary format makes it feel timeless in a way that traditional comedies aren't always able to.

In fact, McKean, Guest, and Shearer continued to make appearances in character over the years, and even went on tour as Spinal Tap, helping to lend a lasting authenticity to the movie and cement its enduring legacy. So much so, in fact, that a sequel — "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" — was released in 2025 with Reiner again directing as well as co-writing with the original trio. Sadly, barring any posthumous releases we don't yet know about, "Spinal Tap II" will ultimately serve as Reiner's final screen credit as both actor and director.