Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

For the uninitiated, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s Nirvanna The Band The Show was a cult web series where its two creators portrayed hyperactive, hap-witted versions of themselves as a musical duo desperately failing to book a gig at the storied Toronto venue The Rivoli. Their hilarious misadventures continued a decade later across two seasons of a Spike Jonze–produced television series, and both iterations brilliantly blended Matt and Jay’s fictional exploits with hysterically incredible real-world public interactions. Every episode further contained a potpourri of irreverent pop-culture references and nebulous copyright violations, but always culminated in a sweet-hearted expression of friendship and creative perseverance.

Now in a critically acclaimed major motion picture that harmonizes with the series but stands alone, “Nirvanna the Band” are older, but none the wiser. When Matt presses Jay to partake in their most death-defying publicity stunt yet, it goes spectacularly sideways, and the fallout inspires Jay to strike out on his own. But thanks to Matt’s inadvertent intervention with a short-lived Canadian novelty beverage (remember Orbitz?), the boys find themselves travelling through time where they risk compromising their very own origin story.

Utilizing meticulous visual effects, costuming, and the judicious integration of archival footage to recreate Toronto’s not-so-distant past, Johnson and his collaborators polish a satirically sobering and riotously funny cultural mirror that reflects just how much (and how little) things have changed, all the while celebrating the infectious joy of living for your dreams… with a little help from your friends.

PETER KUPLOWSKY

Content advisory: strobing effects, explicit violence, homophobic language, sexual assault references, coarse language