Full disclosure: I went into this film blind to its history. I was not aware of Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are a Canadian comic team who had a web series of the same name in 2007-2008. I knew almost nothing about the plot, save perhaps for watching the trailer and reading an almost “What the hell am I watching” review of it in the New York Times. I convinced my wife to go and see it with a pitch that went something like this: “Hey, do you want to go see a really stupid movie?” She said, “Okay,” and off we went to the local cineplex to watch “Nirvanna The Band the Show the Movie.” Knowing there’s a time travel element to it seemed somewhat ho-hum, but man, this film made me laugh for the sheer logically inconsistencies, the manic and idealistic nature of Matt Johnson’s character, and Jay McCarrol’s portrayal of middle-age guy who realizes he’s hitched is wagon to a lovable loser loon of a friend who can’t seem to grow out of adolescent idealism.
The film takes the form of a documentary with jerky camera shots, random zooms, and even an acknowledgment that the crew is part of their stunts. But that’s not what makes this film unique or even funny. I mean, Johnson and McCarrol aren’t going for “This is Spinal Tap” laughs. This film is way more character driven and contains many more emotionally sweet moments than other mock docs. That’s the secret sauce of this film. That, at bottom, it’s about the enduring bonds of friendship — even when those bonds are tested by bad choices in life.
The plot — with an amazing number of logical holes — centers on Matt and Jay trying to find ways to perform at a club in Toronto called Rivoli. The act Matt thinks will make them famous is not entirely well thought out. There’s a lot of sizzle Matt sketches for their performance, but there’s no steak. They don’t really practice songs to get good and perform them. Rather, their act is mostly the ADHD riffing of Matt while Jay tries to follow his partner’s lead on the piano.
A stunt Matt sketches out on his whiteboard involves the duo going near the top of the CN tower, jumping off, and parachuting onto the field of the Rogers Center while the Blue Jays are playing a game. What’s the purpose of this stunt? To tell the audience that they are Nirvanna the Band and they are playing at the Rivoli. Well, that stunt doesn’t go as planned. However, there is an amusing part of the movie that shows the guys getting into the CN Tower with parachutes and a wire cutter while the security guards just kind let them. It was ridiculous, but it made me wonder, “Wow. Canadians sure are a trusting people…or idiots.”
But hey, we’re on this insane journey with Matt and Jay. And that journey eventually has them traveling back to 2008 using a Back to the Future-like flux capacitor powered by Orbitz, a Canadian drink that was only available to the public for about a year (1997-1998). While the time travel plot point is integral to the film’s story, it’s a way for the guys to see how their lives would have turned out without their frustratingly co-dependent relationship keeping them emotionally and financially stuck.
It’s in the third act when the movie amps up into a series of improbable events that are hilarious, unexpected, and very entertaining. I gotta say that this is probably the most genuinely funny movie I’ve seen a years. Kudos goes to Matt and Jay who kept things fresh with twists and turns without compromising the moral center of its main characters. It should also be said that this very much a Canadian film. The humor is universal, but the audience is also given a good glimpse of what makes Canadians, well, Canadian.
I went into this film thinking I would be watching a stupid film about middle aged man-children. Instead, I found myself charmed by two friends teetering on the edge of homelessness, held afloat by the wildly irrational optimism that one of them seems to possess in limitless supply.
