Director: Matt Johnson.

Stars: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

The feature debut from Canadian comedy duo Nirvanna The Band, famous over there for their online mockumentary sitcom series, is amusing enough, even as it struggles to justify a ninety-five-minute running time. For the uninitiated the ‘band’ is keyboardist McCarrol and frontman Matt Johnson, the latter’s act consists of bizarre spoken word performances and improvisations. Johnson is a wacky, amiable ball of energy; Jay is the more laid-back ostensible straight man with something of The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith about him. The plot, like the series, has the due pulling off ever more elaborate stunts in order to secure a gig at local venue The Rjvoli. This time around its skydiving off the CN tower in Toronto into the Skydome sports venue, something which they appear to actually do. Inevitably it goes wrong but Matt, inspired by a clip of ‘Back to the Future’, builds a time machine which transports their truck back to 2007, just before they carried out the stunt. The butterfly effect results in their friendship being threatened. The picture coasts along agreeably enough on a lowlevel absurdist comic buzz and there are a handful of very funny moments. Johnson and McCarrol are likeable enough too, often pausing their shenanigans to welcome passing tourists to Canada. This would be undoubtedly funnier when watched stoned/drunk though.

David Willoughby

Follow David on Bluesky @davidwilloughby.bsky.social