NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE
****
Directed by Matt Johnson.
Starring Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol.
Science-Fiction Comedy, Canada, 100 Minutes, Certificate15.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on July 3rd by Vertigo Releasing.
Based on a cult web series that later moved onto niche TV channel VICE, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll’s loose comedy about two clueless, Toronto based slackers and their hare-brained schemes to play local venue the Rivoli as their band Nirvanna, hardly seems like fruitful material to adapt for the cinema. Away from the heavily fictionalised version of himself that he played, star and director Matt Johnson more recently made a name for himself with the excellent BLACKBERRY, a far more fun than it should have been account of the doomed gadget with an excellent performance from Glenn Howerton, and Johnson himself. Using the clout and cash earned from that cinematic debut, Johnson has gone back to the well to catch up with his clueless alter-ego and best friend as they embark on their grandest “plan” yet, while riffing on a much loved time travel trilogy and delivering one of the best comedies of the year.
Newcomers to the madcap shenanigans here are soon caught up with the fast, loose mockumentary style and dynamic of Matt and Jay. Matt is the harebrained ideas man, while Jay backs him up with musical accompaniment. Introduced in footage from 2008, Matt confidently states that “… I’ve got a feeling that things are going to work out okay for us!” Smash cut to 2025 - where Matt is still wearing the same, torn up jeans that are more hole than denim, and sporting the self confident belief in their musical abilities which even longtime viewers have yet to witness. After an ill-fated attempt to skydive from the CN tower into the neighbouring Skydome during a game, captured expertly and hilariously with hidden cameras and unsuspecting members of the public, Jay is becoming disillusioned with Matt, completely unconvinced by his next plan where they pretend to be time travellers from the future. With the help of a long discontinued soft drink being spilled over Matt’s hastily designed flux capacitor in his large RV, the duo soon find themselves hurled into the past of 2008 where goths roam the streets, billboards announce the release of THE DARK KNIGHT and Matt sees an opportunity to help out his and Jay’s younger selves before they head back to the future while avoiding the much feared butterfly effect.
While daftness is primarily the name of the game here, Johnson manages to inject a hint of pathos into the increasingly crazed proceedings. The crushing nature of a long lived friendship is highlighted in a fashion that becomes more affecting as the film barrels along to its conclusion. As touching as this is however it is the zany and twisting storyline that gives the film its propulsive energy as well as the many instances of copyright baiting that will have the likes of Robert Zemeckis and Alan Silvestri speed dialling their lawyers. Fans of Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s adventures will delight in the multiple references, as well as Johnson’s impression of Christopher Lloyd, but maybe not so much his ill-advised take on Bill Cosby. A true renegade comedy, the film is never mean spirited but there is a darkness on offer here that goes hand in hand with its seat of the pants filmmaking style that ropes in unsuspecting members of the public, as well as a news crew, in Matt and Jay’s increasingly unhinged misadventures.
While the film will no doubt attract a new legion of fans to these unhinged doofusses, longtime fans will also find much to be amused by. The mix of new and unused vintage footage from seventeen years before mixed seamlessly together also provides a sense of pathos, not just in Matt and Jay’s all too apparent aging but in Matt’s delusional nature also. At the same time however the film never feels the need to linger on these aspects, concentrating instead on delivering as many laughs as it can in each scene, as well as aping the style and sound of BACK TO THE FUTURE as much as legally possible. Truly laugh out loud funny, this has cult classic stamped all over it.
Iain MacLeod