‘Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie’ Review

I’ve learned over the years that Nirvanna the Band the Show is an acquired taste. Chaotic in its nature and aesthetically DIY, it has always felt like two guys making jokes specifically for them. Adapted from the web series of the same name, a decade after its premiere, the show follows two bandmates with no written music as they attempt to book a show at the Rivoli, a popular music venue in Toronto. Within each episode, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol (playing versions of themselves) devise publicity stunts to get booked, often evoking other popular media through their structure, aesthetics, or direct references in ways that feel like they’re barely skirting around fair use laws. Now, almost a decade since the show’s premiere on Viceland, Matt and Jay reunite to attempt one (hopefully) last plan to get themselves a show at the Rivoli in the feature film adaptation, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.

While Toronto might be Canada’s largest city, the degree to which Johnson and McCarrol’s screenplay leans into the city’s downtown core as a crucial geographical plot point forms a narrative backbone to Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie that might alienate audiences unfamiliar with anything outside of the CN Tower. It’s a love letter to the city, if the film’s love and adoration for the city were in the potential for chaos to unfurl at any point in time. Case in point: a legacy of barely-legal, harebrained schemes run up and down Queen Street that now culminate in one last plan to get a show booked at the Rivoli. What starts off as an insane stunt to skydive off the CN Tower in the middle of a baseball game and parachute in to announce they will be playing the Rivoli that night—despite no confirmation they have a show booked—spirals into a time-travelling adventure structurally similar to Back to the Future but hinging on a bottle of discontinued Orbitz and a friendship strained by failure. If the SkyDome, Canadian Tire, Orbitz, Rivoli, Queen Street, Dundas Square, and MuchMusic all sound like nonsense to you, you’d feel pretty silly about seeing a movie that namedrops them all like they’re as well-known as Taylor Swift.

However, despite how hyperspecific and integral to the plot Toronto may seem on the surface, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie straddles the line between niche and universal by keeping its laughs broad while filtering them through a Canadian lens. Even some Canadians may not understand some of these references, but the idea of jumping off a very high tower and landing in the middle of a sports game is enough to raise eyebrows. The way it’s executed, too, in a mockumentary format with guerilla-style filmmaking, where real-life people become unknowing pawns in Matt and Jay’s delirious plot, is the product of two people understanding that the absurdity of a situation is enough to garner dependably humorous results. There’s also the magic of watching two people pushing the envelope of what others will allow, with the ability to de-escalate a situation if it is going south. Fortunately, most of the laughs are at how absurd everything they’re doing is and when the film’s time travel plot kicks in: how absurd things have always been.

If the film were comprised entirely of absurd stunts, then that might play well to fans of viral clip shows and those looking for something slightly adjacent to the Jackass films, but much like the science fiction window dressing of Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future, it’s the human component that makes any spectacle that much more exciting. Matt and Jay have been friends for a very long time, bonding over late-night movie watching and N64 gaming sessions. Jay almost never comes up with a plan, but will always entertain Matt’s schemes, no matter how dangerous or illegal they sound. After all, if they do play the Rivoli, it could be their big break. When Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie reintroduces us to Matt and Jay, nothing has changed since their first botched attempt, but Jay is reaching a breaking point that could cause a rift between them if not handled properly. Of course, getting Matt to do anything properly is easier said than done.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the product of ingenious filmmaking techniques honed over time. The visual effects and editing are used cleverly and subtly to the point that every stunt feels real, even though the logistics, red tape, and ramifications make it obvious they’re not 100% as seen on TV. The magic isn't in whether the stunts are real, though. Plenty of the behind-the-scenes stunts pulled to make something appear real are enough to sell the resulting product, but knowing how the sausage is made has never been the allure of why audiences go to the movies. Even booking a show could be done quickly if Matt and Jay bothered to pick up the phone, but instead, they stand on the CN Tower, ready to plunge into the unknown in hopes of seeing their dreams come true. Fans of the show will undoubtedly be entertained. General audiences aren’t left behind either, though. Anyone who goes to the movies to see something extraordinary will understand completely why Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is lightning in a bottle.