Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie: Canadian fakin’

Two longtime friends time-travel back to 2008 to pursue their performing dreams in a likably daft comedy directed by Matt Johnson and co-written with Jay McCarrol, who also composed the score. The film makes clear from its doubled n that it has nothing to do with the band Nirvana, and it trades on a deliberately batty, self-indulgent streak.

We first meet Matt and Jay (played by Johnson and McCarrol) in Toronto in 2008, pitching outlandish ideas to promote a show that doesn’t yet exist. Fast-forward 17 years and little has changed: Matt still sports a fedora and extravagantly wrecked jeans while Jay seems less enthusiastic, raising the film’s wistful central question about whether to leave a long-term friendship that no longer serves you.

The movie scaffolds its wistfulness with prankish stunts — notably a parachute jump from the CN Tower observation deck carried out under the noses of security guards — and a time-travel device that lets the pair reconnect with their 2008 selves.

Canada, Toronto

nirvanna, matt johnson, jay mccarrol, toronto, cn tower, time travel, comedy film, parachute jump, 2008, film score