Time: 100 Minutes
Age Rating: R13 – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Matt Johnson as Matt
Jay McCarrol as Jay
Director: Matt Johnson

I was interested in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie after hearing some really positive things about it. What particularly got my attention was the fact that it was directed by Matt Johnson, and I really liked his work on BlackBerry. As it turns out, his latest movie is based on a web series called Nirvanna the Band the Show from Johnson and Jay McCarrol. However, I wasn’t familiar with it at all, so I was going into this movie fairly blind. It definitely lived up to all the high praise.

Based on my viewing experience, I think that it’s worth going into Nirvanna fairly blind. The only thing I knew beforehand was that the plot had to do with time travel somewhat, but even knowing this, I couldn’t predict where it would go. It’s definitely one of the best time travel comedies of recent years. There’s so many great setups and payoffs and very creative visual gags, as well as some hilarious and memorable lines. It’s also a ridiculous and outrageous movie that managed to film and include so many gags and references. They got away with a lot, from the copyrighted aspects, to the amount of things they managed to film in public. It also benefits from its fake documentary style of filming, which opened itself up for plenty of meta humour and really good fourth wall breaking gags. At the same time, Nirvanna is heartfelt in parts, mainly with the friendship between the 2 main characters.

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are both excellent and hilarious here, playing fictionalised versions of themselves. They have such a perfect on screen dynamic and really felt like friends, and helped to really sell that aspect.

Nirvanna: The Band the Show the Movie is a chaotic, energetic, clever, and hilarious time travel comedy.