150 Word Review: 'Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie' (2025)
The power of love
There’s a whole history behind the mockumentary-slash-Back to The Future parody-slash-buddy comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, but it doesn’t really matter; all you need to know is that it’s based on a web/TV series created by the movie’s stars and co-writers, Jay McCarroll and Matt Johnson, who also direct. They call themselves Nirvanna the Band, and their dream is to play the legendary Rivoli club in Toronto. McCarroll plays the piano; Johnson performs a kind of spoken-word gibberish; they spend almost twenty years failing to make this dream come true, until one day Matt creates a time machine and they go back to 2008. (Just go with it.)
Somehow, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is slapdash and well-crafted, cynical and sweet. McCarroll and Johnson are a perfect duo: best frenemies. Their brief trip to the past skillfully stitches together archival Obama-era video with new footage.
this move made me want some Orbitz.