{"id":10904,"date":"2026-06-23T18:33:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/?p=10904"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:26:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:56:25","slug":"nirvanna-the-band-the-show-the-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/06\/23\/nirvanna-the-band-the-show-the-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt (Matt Johnson) and Jay (Jay McCarrol) have never achieved their dream of playing Toronto bar the Rivoli. Cue their most harebrained scheme of all.<\/p>\n

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In the opening scene of Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie<\/em> \u2013 a sequence shot way back in 2008 \u2013 Matt Johnson, half of its central duo, declares: \u201cWhat you\u2019re about to see is something you\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d He\u2019s imagining a grandiose opening for his not-even-really-a-band (it\u2019s him, pal Jay and a piano) if they ever play at Toronto\u2019s Rivoli. But it\u2019s an apt description of the film itself: bonkers, brilliant, blisteringly funny and bittersweet, a true original whose mere existence is an act of sheer ingenuity.<\/p>\n

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\"Nirvanna<\/div>\n

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Unusually for a comedy, the less you know the better. But the film takes its cues from Johnson (who directs, and previously helmed BlackBerry<\/em>) and Jay McCarrol\u2019s \u201900s webseries, which spawned a TV show in the \u201910s \u2014 and The Movie<\/em> succinctly introduces their established dynamic. Johnson is the whirlwind ideas-fiend, whose outlandish schemes to achieve hyper-local stardom are buoyed by goofy charm. And McCarrol is \u2014 marginally \u2014 the wiser counterpart, energised by his friend\u2019s enthusiasm. They\u2019re lovably hapless; to play the Rivoli, you sense they could simply call and ask. Instead, they\u2019d rather daydream stupidly big.<\/p>\n

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A monument to high-wire human creativity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cut to the present day, and a schism looms. The duo have nothing to show for their years of planning, sparking a last-ditch plot that sends things in a giddily unhinged direction, courtesy of a beloved \u201980s blockbuster and a discontinued soda bottle. What follows is one of the funniest comedies in years, packed with full-body guffaws and still-tittering-five-minutes-later asides. A sequence involving Toronto\u2019s CN Tower \u2014 shot v\u00e9rit\u00e9, with punky Jackass<\/em> energy \u2014 is both hilarious and heart-in-mouth tense, with a comic pay-off for the ages. A scene in which Johnson clocks a shift in his surroundings \u2014 via an uncensored Black Eyed Peas song and an eye-watering The Hangover<\/em> gag \u2014 is a genius moment of dawning realisation. And a \u2018Chekhov\u2019s Nerf gun\u2019 punchline is a delightfully cruel jolt best experienced with an audience.<\/p>\n

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The construction of NTBTSTM<\/em> \u2014 blending new footage with material shot nearly two decades ago \u2014 is mind-boggling to comprehend. To call it a miracle would be a disservice; rather, it stands as a monument to high-wire human creativity, powered by self-belief and enduring friendship. At its core, it\u2019s a heartfelt, regret-tinged portrait of two ride-or-die pals \u2014 itself the glorious fruit of a real-world creative kinship. It\u2019s a privilege to witness, the kind of cinema to make you shout: \u201cGreat Scott!\u201d<\/p>\n

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An instant cult-classic comedy that should be seen with a rowdy crowd \u2014 and then cherished for years to come on repeated quote-along home viewings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt (Matt Johnson) and Jay (Jay McCarrol) have never achieved their dream of playing Toronto bar the Rivoli. Cue their most harebrained scheme of all. In the opening scene of Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie \u2013 a sequence shot way back in 2008 \u2013 Matt Johnson, half of its central duo, declares: \u201cWhat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10906,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10904\/revisions\/10906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}