A bonkers and bizarre delight, this ambitious meta comedy finds charming meaning amongst its overwhelming silliness.
You don’t need to know anything of the origins of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie to appreciate what creators Matt Johnson and Jay McCarol are trying to pull off. The delightfully named comedy, an extension of their cult web series turned television series, Nirvanna the Band the Show, puts the comedic duo in increasingly bizarre scenarios as they attempt to play a show at the trendy Rivoli in Toronto. What starts as a nonsensical dive into potential unfiltered, unstructured “for the sake of it” weirdness soon becomes a “just go with it” delight sure to make longstanding fans and newbies delighted.
Playing exaggerated versions of themselves Matt (Matt Johnson) is the hairbrained scheme version of the two. Donning a silly grey fedora and suit jacket with ripped to shreds jeans he rushes into rooms, excitedly scribbling nonsensical plans on whiteboards, hoping to crack the code to success. They want to drum up interest for their band Nirvanna’s (purposely spelt with two n’s) show but seemingly have no band and no show, adopting a Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure style of conversations that overlap and make no sense. Jay is the more mature one, there’s this sense that if he left Matt behind when they were younger maybe he could have made something with his life. The pair have excellent chemistry and feel like a fully fledged and comfortable duo, their relationship and execution of character are so immediately clear that you relax into their purposefully grating characteristics straight away.
As the plans are carried out and the film gets weirder there is a grounding quality to the narrative’s sweet focus on the male friendship at the centre. Matt’s plan to parachute off the top of the CN tower as a publicity stunt fails so he naturally decides to build a fake time machine in their RV and pretend they’re from 2008. Only when he spills a bottle of Orbitz energy drink on the time machine he unknowingly gets it to actually work and the pair are transported back to 2008. The film then becomes a race against time and their younger selves as Jay considers changing history to pursue a solo career while Matt works to bring them back to the unsuccessful reality he secretly loves.
It’s a lot to take in and the convoluted explanation of the film suggests an unfocused narrative but the sheer energy and invention of Johnson’s direction and incredible visual effects makes it hard to care. It is surprisingly technically astounding and the gag a minute ratio can be hit and miss but so relentless that the hit ratio feels padded out to perfection. Footage from the original web series is seamlessly intertwined with the new and older versions of Matt and Jay, there is a grungy, guerilla aesthetic to the 2008 sequences that are noticeably different to the more polished style of the contemporary stretches in the film. This is accompanied by interactions with the real general public that border on the insane and feel like a more socially aware version of Nathan Fielder, playing with the perception of what is staged and what reactions are real. The meta, fourth wall breaking element of Matt talking to the cameramen adds a relaxed, unserious edge and feels organic, like they’re just as in over their heads as the audience is.
While the duo are keen not to change any history with Matt heavily leaning on the rules of Back to the Future, when stuff does eventually go wrong it puts into question the everchanging values and meaning of the men’s lives. The world and people have changed so much even since 2008 and there are some hilarious markers of the era that point to the way public perception and the meaning of “success” as we age can change so fast. Matt and Jay enjoy a screening of The Hangover before they realise anything is wrong, then tacky F bombs in the film cause the audience to erupt with laughter, only Matt looks around in shock at the brazen slur – it’s 2008. It is consistent small, clever moments like this that raises the film above simplistic slapstick which it also achieves well but there’s an intelligence that permeates the ever-increasing stakes. It plays like a Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton at times with plenty of jaw dropping “how did they do that?” moments.
4 / 5
At the end of it all Matt and Jay may be losers but without Matt’s schemes Jay would be lost in the world. It is our friendships that define us and the warm feeling you get when watching these two loveable goofballs attach an endless length of wire to the CN tower all the way down to the ground level to power their RV time machine stops being stupid and ends up being heartwarming. It is impossible not to be swept up in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’s frenetic energy and perfectly calibrated buddy action.
