Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie: the Review

I found out about the movie Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie while listening to the comedy podcast Good One. In the episode, Why Can’t Comedies Win Best Picture?, the last five minutes promoted the film Nirvanna. I was intrigued when the host proclaimed that Nirvanna is the funniest film of the past 10 years and that he laughed every five seconds. He also stated that the synopsis makes no sense and that listeners should just go watch the movie. Intrigued, I did exactly as instructed, even skipping my usual step of checking the IMDb synopsis. 

The podcast warned that the film is difficult to market, which is true. After finishing the podcast episode, I thought that the movie would be a comedic documentary about the 90s band Nirvana. I have to look up the title every time I talk about the movie because I mix up the words Band, Show, and Movie, and when I asked my film watching buddy if he wanted to watch Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie with me, he did not respond to my text. Undeterred, I decided to watch the movie on my own. 

I felt determined to watch an obscure, independent comedy by myself because I am passionate about comedy. I love watching comedy, I love writing comedy, and I love performing comedy. When my talent agent asked me about my dream role, I responded “sitcom mom,” and I feel most joyful when I am writing stand up comedy jokes and sketches and performing them on stage. (Shoutout to the Austin-based Hideout and Fallout Theatres). As a budding comedian, I have realized that making people laugh is really, really, really hard. Therefore, I have cultivated a deep respect for the art of comedy, because comedy is an art, even if it never wins awards. 

On my mission to watch this film, I found the closest showing at my neighborhood Pflugerville Cinemark which surprisingly screens many independent and Bollywood films. I have to admit that I was only one of three people watching the movie because I watched it at 11am on a Monday. Outside of comedy, my main job is stay-at-home mom, so weekdays are the most convenient for me while my kids are at school. A lot of people go to the movies, especially for comedy and action films, for the shared experience, but this was not the case for me because I was only one of three patrons in the theatre. 

As I delve into my film experience, I will avoid spoilers as much as possible.  However, here is my one sentence plot synopsis: Two musician friends, determined to perform at The Rivoli theater in Toronto, accidentally find themselves back in the year 2008, and if that plot makes no sense, that is the point. I was also unfamiliar with the lead actors Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, but I was not overly concerned about the plot or the performers, I really just wanted to see if the movie was as funny as viewers hyped. 

If I had to categorize Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie, I would define it as primarily a buddy comedy, and I love a buddy comedy when there is palpable chemistry between the two leads. An all-time favorite of mine is Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, and a gem I recently watched is The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. What I love about a buddy comedy is that the comedy arises not from plot devices but the interplay and improvisation between the two actors. When I studied formal improv classes in the past, I noticed the difference in my performances when I worked with a troupe I knew versus a spontaneous jam with people I had never met. I found myself being funnier with the players I knew because I trusted them and I felt comfortable taking risks. Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol have been working on the Nirvanna concept for almost 20 years as evidenced by Matt addressing his best friend Jay as “bird”, a pet name derived from “jay bird”. I enjoyed observing the relationship between these two hapless characters, and any good improviser knows the importance of the relationship between two characters. 

Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie also includes physical comedy. The movie prologue documents Matt and Jay’s failed jump off the CN tower in Toronto, and I laughed as they screamed all the way down. During the time travel sequences, Matt gets thrown on his ass to which he literally responds, “My ass!” and I laughed my ass off every single time. Although a light-hearted film overall, I also laughed aloud in the theater when someone got shot in the head, which, I know sounds dark and very unfunny, but the scene pulled off irony so well that the joke really landed. 

As I mentioned, Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie is largely light-hearted and definitely not a dark comedy. The characters and plot are meant to be silly, and there is no heavy subject matter, political posturing, or ruminations on the current state of the world. I enjoyed the escapism, and I also appreciated that the characters do not punch down in the film. In one notable scene, Matt decides to watch a movie when he is transported back to 2008. During the 2008 film, when a homophobic slur is used and the movie crowd erupts into laughter, the camera centers on a more evolved 2025 Matt sitting stunned in his seat.

I enjoyed watching a time travel film filled with light gags, and though I thought that most of their shenanigans involving the CN tower would have gotten them arrested and that would be the end of the movie, I also had to believe that a bottle of a lava-lamp-looking drink named Orbitz unlocked the power of time travel. In one line, Matt even asks the mockumentary audience, “Is it really that stupid?”    

Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie really is that stupid. It is also really great. I did not necessarily laugh every 5 seconds, but I did enjoy myself every minute of this light-hearted buddy comedy. I will also admit that I teared up at the end of the movie, and they were not tears of laughter. The ending message of the movie warmed me as I walked back to my car alone in the empty parking lot.

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