Stop Smiling, our very favorite regular grab bag of interviews with and mash notes to cultural figures, has an interview with Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner, the singer-guitarist and drummer who for more than thirty years have been the core of Anvil, the Canadian metal band who failed to fully launch into stardom after a few breaks in the early '80s, and who are now enjoying an unlikely late-career boost thanks to the movie Anvil: The Story of Anvil. The documentary, whose L.A. premiere was followed by a live performance attended by the likes of Dustin Hoffman--a sight that the guys liken to playing for the cover of Sgt. Pepper-- has inspired many a kneejerk comparison to This Is Spinal Tap, but the film itself is never mocking of its heroes, and its portrait of a lifelong friendship between two family men whose shared devotion to their music has sometimes been tempered by a fear that they're wasting each other's lives produces as many touching moments as it does comic ones. A labor of love, the movie was made by screenwriter Sacha Gervasi (The Terminal), who, having known the band members when he was sixteen, plowed his Hollywood riches into the movie.

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