--- title: "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" year: 2008 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/anvil-the-story-of-anvil" fi1m_score: 80 critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 17 published: "2026-09-17T05:08:34.804440+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T05:08:46.659065+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008) Directed by Sacha Gervasi · 1h 21m · MPA NR · Documentary, Music **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 83 from 17 reviews *In a sentence:* A real Spinal Tap, except the drummer is called Robb Reiner and nobody is laughing at him for long > Sacha Gervasi’s film about two middle-aged Canadian metalheads who never made it is funny for its first half hour and then quietly becomes something else. It is shaped more than it admits, but the friendship at its centre is real, and it got to us. ## Synopsis In 1984 a Toronto heavy metal band called Anvil play a festival in Japan in front of tens of thousands. Then nothing. Sacha Gervasi picks them up more than twenty years on: lead guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow (himself) delivers school dinners in a van through the Ontario snow, drummer Robb Reiner (himself) works in construction, and the two, friends since they were fourteen, still rehearse in a basement and still expect to make it. A fan turned manager, Tiziana Arrigoni (herself), books them a European tour. Trains are missed, clubs are empty and promoters do not pay. Slash, Lemmy Kilmister and Lars Ulrich turn up to say the band mattered. ## Review Sacha Gervasi’s film opens with the good years. There is footage from 1984 of a Toronto band on a festival stage in Japan, all leather and hair, and a row of famous men (Slash, Lemmy Kilmister, Scott Ian, Lars Ulrich, Tom Araya) explaining that Anvil were early, loud and important, and that everyone around them got rich. Then Gervasi cuts to Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow, the lead guitarist, driving a van through the Ontario snow delivering school dinners. The joke is obvious and the film knows it. What the film also knows, and takes its time to show, is that the joke is not the point. This is a good documentary, warm without being soft, and it is 81 minutes long, which is exactly right. The subject is not really a band. It is two men. Lips and the drummer Robb Reiner have been friends since they were fourteen, and they have spent the thirty years since in each other’s company, rehearsing in basements and losing money. Lips does the talking; he talks like a man who has spent decades explaining to strangers why they should care, and has not yet given up. Reiner says almost nothing. He drums, he paints, and he watches his friend with a look that is half love and half exhaustion. Gervasi is wise enough to keep the camera on that look. The first act follows them to Europe on a tour arranged by Tiziana Arrigoni, a fan who has appointed herself their manager and whose confidence outstrips her experience of booking trains. They miss a connection and lose a gig. A promoter in Prague refuses to pay them and Lips, in front of the camera, comes close to hitting him. They play a festival in Transylvania to a room built for thousands that holds, by our count, a few dozen. We laughed at all of this, and then, somewhere around the empty hall, we stopped laughing and felt slightly ashamed of ourselves, because every one of these disasters costs these two men money they earned carrying trays and pouring concrete. That is the trick of the film, and Gervasi plays it once, properly, rather than over and over. Christopher Soos shoots it plainly, hand-held, in dressing rooms and vans and kitchens, and he does not prettify the snow or the strip lighting. Jeff Renfroe and Andrew Dickler cut it tight; scenes end when the point has landed and not a second after, and the film never once stops to admire itself. David Norland’s score is used sparingly, mostly underneath the quieter passages between the two men, and the rest of the soundtrack is Anvil’s own music, which is exactly as loud and as unfashionable as the film says it is. The craft is unshowy and it serves the people in front of it. It is not an honest film in every particular. Gervasi has clearly noticed that his drummer is called Robb Reiner and that his guitarist owns an amplifier with a knob that goes to eleven, and he lets those echoes of [*This Is Spinal Tap*](https://film.one/film/this-is-spinal-tap) (1984) sit on screen for a laugh he did not have to work for. He shapes his footage towards uplift; the second half, which we will not describe, is arranged so that every setback arrives just before a piece of good news, and by the end the structure is doing some of the work the material should do on its own. The rest of the band scarcely exists. Glenn Gyorffy is on screen for much of the tour and we could not tell you one thing about him. Against the run of rock documentaries, this is a modest one, and better for it. It has none of the therapy-room grandeur of *Metallica: Some Kind of Monster* (2004) or the cruelty of a hidden-camera comedy; Gervasi likes these men and does not pretend otherwise, and he is good at letting them be ridiculous without making them fools. The film’s real argument is small and unfashionable: that it is possible to fail at something for thirty years and still be right to have tried. Watch it with someone who has kept up a hobby long past the point of sense, and be prepared for the fact that the funny film you sat down to is not the one you will be thinking about in the morning. Certificate 15, mostly for the language of a guitarist who has not been paid. *Fi1m score 80, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say All seventeen reviews are favourable, and most of them say the same thing in the same order: the film is funny in the way This Is Spinal Tap is funny, and then, unexpectedly, it is moving. The praise clusters on the two men at its centre, Lips and Reiner, and on the friendship that has kept them playing small rooms for decades while holding down day jobs. Critics note again and again that Sacha Gervasi does not patronise his subjects, so the mishaps of the European tour play as affection rather than ridicule. The spread is narrow, running from good to warmly enthusiastic, and the reservations are slight. A few critics are less sure of the tone. The New York Times wonders whether the film is a straight chronicle or a deadpan mockery of the band, and The Independent finds it as heartbreaking as it is comic, a study of grown men clinging to childhood ambitions. Nobody, though, suggests missing it. ### Reviews we read (17) - **Time Out** (5/5): The film is a supremely entertaining and touching tribute that matches the laughs of This Is Spinal Tap while portraying the band's members as inspirational figures pursuing their rock dreams. It highlights the absurdities of their European tour without ever becoming scornful of their antics or in-fighting. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/anvil-the-story-of-anvil-1) - **Los Angeles Times**, John Horn (90/100, inferred): The documentary tracing the Canadian band’s resolute determination isn’t really a rock ‘n’ roll comedy but an alternatively moving and hilarious love story—a tale of two people hopelessly devoted to playing heavy metal music. Their dedication and integrity is without parallel. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-18-et-anvil18-story.html) - **The AV Club**, Noel Murray (A-): Murray finds the film both hilarious and moving, arguing that the band’s niceness and brotherly bond explain why they never broke big yet also why their story resonates. He highlights how the documentary shows what it truly takes to keep playing dingy clubs for decades. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/anvil-the-story-of-anvil-1798206071) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (90/100, inferred): Sacha Gervasi’s documentary digs deep into the attempted resurrection of Anvil to emerge with a saga of devotion and perseverance that’s both touching and absurd. By the end we mind very much whether the fortunes of Anvil are set to soar or doomed to lurch once more. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/anvil-the-story-of-anvil) - **The Times**, Wendy Ide (85/100, inferred): The review describes the film as one of the most engaging and big-hearted music movies, an emotional journey about following an impossible dream that mixes laughter and sympathy for the band's disappointments. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/article/anvil-the-band-who-refused-to-die-8jkz2jmrg39) - **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Gervasi’s compassionate, warts-and-all portrait of the band’s perseverance through economic and personal hardships. He singles out the lifelong friendship and unyielding passion of Lips and Reiner as what makes the film stirring rather than merely comic. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/anvil-the-story-of-anvil/) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a splendid documentary about the real heavy metal band Anvil and their long struggle for success despite obscurity and day jobs. It highlights the heroic persistence and self-belief of the two main band members without patronising them. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/22/anvil-music-documentary-review) - **Empire**, Sam Toy (70/100, inferred): The critic calls it a real-life Spinal Tap that rises above typical rockumentary fare to celebrate persistence and the underside of the rock dream, with honest and often hilarious access to the band's setbacks and hopes. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/anvil-story-anvil-review/) - **Evening Standard** (70/100, inferred): The piece portrays the band as heroic fools whose persistence the director celebrates without patronising, admiring their guts and hoping for their belated recognition while noting the film's effective tribute to them. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/anvil-rocks-on-regardless-7438978.html) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The review notes the apt 'real-life Spinal Tap' label and moments of unintentional hilarity, while highlighting its surprising role as a heartbreaking study of grown men clinging to childhood aspirations. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-anvil-the-story-of-anvil-retail-and-rental-universal-1711841.html) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The film affectionately chronicles a Canadian heavy metal band that never quite made it, with a dramatic heart in the long, rough partnership between the two leads. Their story of perseverance and a last lunge for glory emerges as both chronicle and possible deadpan mockery. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/movies/10anvi.html) - **Den of Geek**, Owen Davey (5/5): The critic praises the documentary's empathetic portrayal of the band's enduring friendship and passion despite hardships, noting it surpasses Spinal Tap comparisons with genuine emotion and humor. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/anvil-the-story-of-anvil-review/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The film is one of the most inspiring and uplifting documentaries in recent memory, telling the story of two talented rockers who refuse to be defeated by failure. It singles out the brotherhood and perseverance of the band's founding members as they rage against the dying of the light while chasing their dreams. [Read](https://collider.com/movie-review-anvil-the-story-of-anvil/) - **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary endearing and impossible not to be charmed by, praising the director's genuine affection for the subjects that keeps the humor from becoming ridicule. The band members' optimism and friendship stand out amid tales of mishaps and rejection. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/anvil-the-story-of-anvil-film-review-by-anton-bitel) - **Paste**, Michael Dunaway (85/100, inferred): Director Sacha Gervasi plays the Spinal Tap-like elements deliberately and well, resulting in a moving and very real film about the band's backstory and current struggles. It singles out the tireless devotion and deep friendship of Lips and Robb as the secret weapon that draws viewers in with silliness but hooks them with sweetness. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/anvil/anvil-the-story-of-anvil) - **Digital Spy**, Stella Papamichael (80/100, inferred): The review highlights the film's blend of humor and melancholy in depicting the aging metal band's quest for stardom, praising its balanced tone and portrayal of deep friendship. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a146791/anvil-the-story-of-anvil/) - **The Playlist**, Rodrigo Perez (70/100, inferred): The review calls the film hilarious, pathetic, and moving, highlighting its portrayal of perseverance, friendship, and resilience as a universal underdog story that provokes emotional responses. It notes the band's tenacity in the face of obstacles as a standout element. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/anvil-story-of-anvil-heavy-tale-of-20080601/) ## Details - **Director:** Sacha Gervasi - **Director:** Sacha Gervasi - **Screenplay:** Sacha Gervasi - **Cinematography:** Christopher Soos - **Editor:** Andrew Dickler, Jeff Renfroe - **Music:** David Norland - **Producer:** Rebecca Yeldham - **Cast:** Steve 'Lips' Kudlow as Self - Lead Guitar; Robb Reiner as Self - Drummer; Kevin Goocher as Self; Glenn Gyorffy as Self; William Howell as Self; Tiziana Arrigoni as Self - Manager; Slash as Self; Lemmy Kilmister as Self - **Runtime:** 1h 21m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 18 January 2008 - **Genres:** Documentary, Music - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t92nKWryKXw ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $0.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $0.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: CA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *This Is Spinal Tap* (1984), Fi1m 91: The invented version, and the reason everyone in this film keeps getting asked about it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/this-is-spinal-tap.md) - *American Movie* (1999): A Wisconsin man makes a horror film on nothing; the same devotion, colder weather - *Metallica: Some Kind of Monster* (2004): What happens to a metal band that did make it and still cannot get along - *Searching for Sugar Man* (2012): A forgotten musician, a day job and an audience he never knew he had - *The Wrestler* (2008), Fi1m 85: Fiction, but the same battered body, the same small venues, the same refusal to stop — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wrestler.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/anvil-the-story-of-anvil