Anvil! The Story of Anvil

(2008) ****

What documentary involves aging, slightly dense heavy metal rockers who are closer than brothers, unintentional humor, Stonehenge, bondage harness, blond floozies, colorful language, and an attempted comeback in Japan? If you guessed Spinal Tap you’d be right, but if you guessed Anvil you’d also be right. Shot by a former roadie and getting universally positive reviews, Anvil (the documentary) tells the story of Anvil (the band), which has been around for over 30 years and in the early 80s was an inspiration to bands like Motorhead, Anthrax, and Metallica. Somehow their success eluded Anvil, but despite the intervening years and the need to work regular jobs to support themselves, the core members (lead singer Lips and drummer Robb) haven’t given up on their dreams of heavy metal stardom.

I saw Anvil last night with Mr. AC and a bunch of twentysomethings from work, part of my trusty entertainment-related peer group. In terms of interest in heavy metal music we ran the gamut, up to and including a very serious metalhead, but we all enjoyed the movie regardless of how metal we each were. The documentary exposes the character, and character flaws, of Lips and Robb in a compassionate way, and we are both entertained by and concerned about their trials and tribulations. There are way more guys out there like Lips and Robb than there are guys like Lemmy and Lars, which may be part of why the movie is touching a chord with so many viewers. As we left the theater one of our group said, “I’m going home to buy their most recent CD, so Lips’ son can eat something more than macaroni for dinner.” If some percentage of each theater audience does the same, Anvil the band may achieve the material success that has eluded them for the past thirty-plus years. Either way, I hope Lips and Robb keep banging their heads.