I’m probably too far behind to fully appreciate the scruffy comic charm of Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, considering Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is my first exposure to them, even though it’s an expansion of the 2017-2018 streaming show that was based on their 2007-2009 web series. Draggy, with a thin joke density, this certainly seems like something that would work better in a condensed package. Still, the conceit is ambitious—their hopelessly naive, wannabe indie rock duo gets sent, Back to the Future-style, to 2008—allowing the blending of guerrilla documentary, expert fakery, improv, and idiocy to take on a veneer of philosophy. And I defy anyone to resist the pair’s commitment to their bits, many of which involve hidden-camera work on the streets of Toronto—or above them. The movie is bookended by dizzying scenes atop the CN Tower, for which the filmmakers reportedly didn’t get permits. Funnier is the sight of them pushing a wheelbarrow along the sidewalk, from which a giant extension cord—supposedly attached to the top of the tower—unspools as they make their way to connect it to a fuse box in order to power their time-traveling RV. The passersby are bewildered, but Doc Brown would be proud.
(5/12/2026)
