Ahead on Differential

The beseechings of the coolest cinephile you know and the biggest comedy dork you know (who may well be the same person, honestly) are fully warranted: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, the cinematic offshoot of Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll’s gonzo metafictional mockumentary Viceland series, is the comedy event of the year, possibly of the century, certainly north of the 49th parallel. You needn’t have seen any prior iteration of the project to get it; the stakes, such as they are, are secondary to the shenanigans they generate (and rest assured, shenanigans are generated). You needn’t have seen any of Johnson’s prior directorial efforts, including BlackBerry, which I described to friends as “The Social Network’s dorky Canadian cousin” (Glenn Howerton’s bald cap is maybe the ninth-funniest thing in that movie; this is a compliment). You needn’t have seen or heard Johnson charming his way though every movie and/or comedy podcast worth listening to, bantering with great candor and enthusiasm, talking shop and future projects with the endearing sugar-rush intensity of a birthday boy buzzing in his seat post-cake, pre-presents.

What you do need to know, because the premise of these little blurblets is that I’m trying to sell you on things, is that Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is a synapse-frying stew of Mike Schur comedies, guerilla filmmaking, social engineering, post-production wizardry, guileless improv, flagrant copyright trolling, inspired stupidity, and a dollop of edgelord shock to taste, all in the service of what Back the the Future would look like if it were sweded by a couple of ding-dongs on the streets of Toronto over the course of nearly 20 years. It’s as if someone took all that un-white balanced mini-DV camera footage you shot with your friends, where every interior looks like it has smoker’s cough and every exterior is blown out by the Sun, and stitched it into a video installation about those very friendships. It’s as if… man, it’s a miracle this film’s budget wasn’t spent primarily on paying fines, that’s what we’re dealing with here.

#UR