‘Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’ Review: A Patience-Testing Canadian Mockumentary

It’s hard to imagine people having lukewarm reactions to the new time-travel comedy that’s so Canadian they should be selling poutine at the concession stand. Matt Johnson’s mockumentary creation clearly has its ardent fans. It’s a feature-length spin-off of both a successful web and television series in its native country. Based on early reviews and reports from film festivals, many people find it hilarious.

Well, no disrespect to the unrealized 51st state, but I found Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie to be as sophomoric as its title. Paying lavish homage to, if not outright plagiarizing from, Back to the Future and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, this overly meta farce beats its mildly silly jokes so steadily into the ground that it’s not so much a case of diminishing returns as humor abuse.

It would probably help to be a Torontonian, since the film features a plethora of gags relating to the city that features so prominently in the proceedings. The story begins in 2008, with best friends/musicians Johnson and Jay McCarrol desperately trying to score a gig at Toronto’s legendary club The Rivoli (footage is incorporated from the web series). Cut to 17 years later, when Matt and Jay are still trying to score that gig, with Matt, who resembles Doc Brown with his outrageous ideas, coming up with the perfect publicity stunt to achieve their goal.

It involves going to the top of the city’s CN Tower and parachuting down into the adjacent stadium during a Blue Jays game.  The idea is that the fan frenzy over their subsequent announcement that they’re playing that night at the Rivoli will surely force the club to follow through.

The outlandish stunt fails spectacularly (you’ll have to see the movie to find out how), inducing Jay to come up with an even wackier idea involving a makeshift time machine in their rundown RV. Somehow, the plan, literally fueled by the long-defunct novelty drink Orbitz (I told you that you need to be Canadian to get all the jokes), succeeds in transporting the duo, along with their ever-following unseen cameraman, back to 2008. Cue the inevitable jokes about such things as Bill Cosby still being revered as “America’s Dad” and, more specifically Canadian, Jian Ghomeshi still hosting his CBC radio show.

For reasons both too silly and too complicated to go into, the two men’s friendship ends and Jay winds up becoming a huge pop star as a solo act — and eventually, a fugitive from the law. And that’s one of the more believable plot elements.

Johnson, who garnered acclaim for his 2023 film BlackBerry, displays plenty of technical ingenuity in this effort, from the blending of old and new footage to the convincing sequence in which the two men jump off the CN Tower to the improvised scenes in which the performers interact with unwitting civilians. And some of the segments are slightly amusing in a Sacha Baron Cohen sort of way, as when Matt and Jay go into a Canadian Tire store and ask an unruffled employee to help them find the proper equipment for their impending illegal stunt.

But for all their aspirations to be a Canadian Bill and Ted, this duo lacks the lovability factor that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter brought to those endearing characters. Matt in particular is so grating that it makes Jay’s eventual wanting no part of him all too relatable. Both characters prove so annoying that it only demonstrates the endless politeness of Canadians who have to engage with them.

Indeed, the film’s funniest elements are the endless times that Matt and Jay say “Sorry” and “Thank you” as they chaotically blunder their way through the city. But it’s still not enough.