By Ian Brockway

The Canadian TV show “Nirvanna the Band the Show” gets the cinema treatment in “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” directed by comedian Matt Johnson. The film is an extension of the cult TV series about a struggling rudimentary band attempting to scheme their way to stardom. [Showtimes and trailer at Tropiccinema.com]

Perhaps an acquired taste, the film is about two best friends Matt (Matt Johnson) and Jay (Jay McCarrol) who are obsessed with achieving fame through performing, even though they have precious little means to move forward for their plan of success.

Matt uses a marker board daily to sketch various plans. On one particular day, Matt gets the idea to jump from the CN Tower and skydive into the baseball stadium to make a name for themselves. When that plan goes south, Matt has the concept of making a time machine out of the RV and whatever electronics he can conjure. Perhaps by going back to 2008, their musical visions will be more palatable to the Canadian public.

Understandably Jay does not believe for one second that Matt’s idea will work, but strangely it does when the home console, crafted from the kitchen refrigerator, unexpectedly catches on fire somehow equipping the RV with time travel ability.

In the manner of a quirky organic “Back to the Future” added chapter, Jay and Matt are in 2008 with chaotic results. Jay is now a Pop star who got slapped during an award show and he has no memory of his lifetime bond with Matt.

Matt and Jay have an old school funnyman / straight man dynamic. While the dialogue is peculiar and not always laugh out loud funny, the deadpan delivery creates momentum and some suspenseful happenstance ensues.

Matt has the uncanny look of a 21st century Larry Fine of Three Stooges fame, while Jay can be thought of in the mode of a Bud Abbott.

The best segments of the film occur when the pair shock onlookers either jumping from the CN Tower or in a box store. The pair know each other so well that a harmonic rapport is well in evidence.

Odd and obscure but not cringy and irrepressibly feel good, the monotone humor will not be for everyone, yet for those with an eccentric bent who want for something more offbeat than “Wayne’s World” (and can handle the sight of a big rat) this is your trip.

Write Ian at ianfree1@icloud.com

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