Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Matt Johnson
Starring: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol, Jared Raab, Ben Petrie, Ethan Eng, Michael Scott, Reid Janisse
The Canadian duo of Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol broke out in 2007 with their comedic web series Nirvana the Band the Show. Over a series of short episodes, Johnson and McCarrol played fictional versions of themselves as a pair of knuckleheads attempting to book a show for their band, "Nirvana the Band", at the Toronto venue The Rivoli. In Sacha Baron Cohen style, the show was a mix of scripted drama and improv, with Johnson and McCarrol often filming scenes in public without permits and interacting with unknowing Torontonians. Since then Johnson has gone on to direct the feature films The Dirties, Operation Avalanche and Blackberry, with accomplished musician McCarrol composing their scores. In 2016 the duo returned to their roots with a reboot titled Nirvanna the Band the Show (note the addition of an extra "N") which aired on the now defunct Viceland network. The TV series allowed for more scope, and the pair took full advantage. With episodes often riffing on other movies and TV shows, the series played like a live action Simpsons.
Now Johnson and McCarrol have an even larger canvas, bringing their gonzo concept to the big screen with Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Opening with a sequence that wouldn't be out of place in a Mission: Impossible movie, the film goes on to riff on Back to the Future, and it might be the most fun time travel adventure since Marty McFly went back to 1955.
We catch up with Jay and Matt 17 years into their unending quest to book a show at the Rivoli (part of the gag is that they don't actually have any songs, and while Jay is an impressive pianist, Matt doesn't appear to play any instruments). When a madcap idea to generate publicity by skydiving from the top of the CN Tower into the Rogers Centre stadium below goes comically wrong, Matt decides to build a time machine to return to 2008 and start from scratch. A dilapidated RV takes the place of a DeLorean, and the time machine is fuelled by Orbitz, a discontinued Canadian soda.
Just as Back to the Future reworked It's a Wonderful Life, so too does Johnson's film. After some shenanigans in 2008, the pair end up back in an alternate version of 2025 where Jay has ditched his buddy and become a world famous pop star. Horrified by this idea, Matt seeks a way to reverse this while Jay tries to cling onto his newfound fame.
The heart of the Nirvanna franchise lies in the idea that Matt and Jay can't live with each other but can't live without each other. The real life friends flawlessly portray two men who have known each other so long that they find themselves at the point in a friendship where you begin to wonder if you would befriend the other party if you met them for the first time today. Jay feels held back by Matt, with the plot of many episodes revolving around his attempts to end their friendship only to end up being made to feel guilty by the emotionally manipulative Matt. It's essentially the father/son dynamic of classic British sitcom Steptoe & Son and its US remake Sanford & Son updated for 21st century hipsters. For all its wackiness, across its many episodes and now feature film, Nirvanna has sketched one of the most uncomfortable portrayals of adult platonic relationships in media.
It's this layer of melancholy that makes Nirvanna stand out from its gonzo cousins. It may not sound like an idea that might transition smoothly from the small screen to the big, but Johnson and McCarrol's love of blockbuster cinema comes to the fore here, with action set pieces and elaborate comic routines that will surely have Hollywood execs tempting them to work south of the 49th parallel (I'd love to see the duo work with Tom Cruise). Part of the thrill here is trying to figure out if what you're watching is real or fabricated, if the people Johnson and McCarrol are interacting with are actors or members of the public; and in the case of what's clearly real you'll find yourself intrigued by how they pulled it off.
The filmmakers are said to have spent over 200 days putting all of this together, and despite having to make much of it up on the fly, it is a more coherent and accomplished piece of storytelling than most genuine modern blockbusters. It has an edge over its mega-budget rivals in its use of a real life city, with the employment of Toronto landmarks and the chaos of shooting in a busy downtown area adding much to its production value. It is a reminder of a time when Hollywood movies were set and shot in recognisable North American metropolises. Toronto and its people serve the same function here as New York and its citizens in Ghostbusters, a backdrop from which the movie is inseparable.
McCarrol's score heavily apes Alan Silvestri's work on Back to the Future, and there are cheeky acknowledgements of how the film is tempting fate with its breaches of copyright (at one point Johnson breaks the fourth wall to tell us how lucky we are that we actually got to see a completed version of his movie). But it's difficult to imagine Robert Zemeckis taking Johnson and McCarrol to court, as their movie displays the exact sort of enthusiasm and innovation that gave us Back to the Future. And if he's honest, Zemeckis might even admit that the duo have made a better Back to the Future movie than he likely would today.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is in UK/ROI cinemas from July 3rd.
