Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (dir. Matt Johnson)
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 100 mins
UK Distributor: Vertigo Releasing
UK Release Date: 3 July 2026
WHO’S IN NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE?
Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol, Jared Raab, Ben Petrie, Ethan Eng, Michael Scott, Reid Janisse, Mitch DeRosier, Steve Hamelin, Luke Lalonde, Maddy Wilde, Roz Weston, Mocha Frap
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Matt Johnson (director, writer), Jay McCarrol (writer, composer), Matt Greyson and Matthew Miller (producers), Jared Raab (cinematographer), Curt Lobb and Robert Upchurch (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A music duo (Johnson and McCarrol) suddenly winds up in the year 2008…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE?
A couple of years ago, I had the great fortune of visiting the Canadian city of Toronto, mostly to attend the world-renowned Toronto International Film Festival but also to see some of the most outstanding sights in that Ontario metropolitan area, and I was so captivated by its charm and beauty that I would definitely consider going back sometime in the future (incidentally, you can hear all about my experiences in my two-part podcast episode from late 2024 – click here to listen/watch!).
So, while I may not have been overly familiar with the Toronto-set web series and later television series Nirvanna the Band the Show before finally seeing its much-hyped feature adaptation Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, I definitely recognised numerous parts of the city that, in their own way, amplify the film’s own sense of charm. But beyond my personal familiarity with and faint nostalgia for the location, I found this to be a very funny movie that works regardless of whether or not you also have knowledge of the source material, because it dares to go places you wouldn’t expect a simple comedy like this would go, while still remaining winsome in its writing and homemade aesthetic.
As in the show, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie follows fictionalised versions of co-writers Matt Johnson (also the film’s director) and Jay McCarrol as they – well, largely Matt – come up with numerous harebrained schemes to bring their musical act Nirvanna the Band to the prestigious Rivoli venue. But after their latest failure, a set-piece so jaw-droppingly daring that I need to dedicate some space later on in this review to talk about it in greater depth, a disillusioned McCarrol secretly makes plans for a solo gig in Ottawa while an ever-eager Matt indulges in his next plan which, as inspired by Back to the Future, sees him build a time machine out of their RV. But to their shock, they actually do end up travelling back to the year 2008, where they encounter their younger selves and eventually change things to a degree that, upon returning to 2025, their lives have been radically and hilariously altered.
In a rare instance regarding an all-out comedy, one of the most outstanding aspects of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is how it is filmed. Johnson, no stranger to innovative filmmaking after previously directing the smartphone thriller BlackBerry and the upcoming chef biopic Tony, cleverly combines footage and technology from two distinct eras – one being today, and the other from nearly twenty years ago – to create a seamless connection that almost fools you into thinking that they actually did travel all the way back to the year of The Dark Knight and Grand Theft Auto IV.
Some exceptional editing positions the 40-something versions of Johnson and McCarrol mere feet from their fresher-faced selves from nearly two decades prior (an effect mined from unused archive footage), not only creating a deeply humorous parallel between the hapless dreamers of then and the slightly pathetic losers of now, but also establishing a genuine connection to the longevity of these guys’ friendship and willingness to put up with each other throughout all the years in between.
Moreover, the fly-on-the-wall mockumentary approach it adopts allows for a type of guerilla filmmaking that almost never scores as many laughs or even as many shocked gasps as it does here. It includes various interactions with unsuspecting members of the public, but unlike the Borat movies the intent is not to mock or even prank but more to simply incorporate them into the slightly heightened environment that Johnson is establishing, which makes certain unscripted reactions all the funnier since it’s not exactly at their expense.
Most notable, however, is the aforementioned set-piece that triggers the film’s wacky later events, which takes place on the unnervingly tall CN Tower and is shot almost Jackass-style with hidden cameras and a daredevil attitude among the performers. Having visited the CN Tower during my own Toronto travels, I can attest to the staggering heights at which it stands, so seeing Johnson and McCarrol (along with their equally brave camera crew) taking some heart-stopping risks on top of one of the tallest buildings in not just Canada but North America as a whole, and performing a death-defying stunt that Tom Cruise would call an average Tuesday, was both mind-boggling and deeply funny to me.
The film as a whole is a great time, as many of the (largely improvised) dialogue exchanges land, the nods to Back to the Future are plenty of fun – least of all because it appears they somehow got the rights to use chunks of Alan Silvestri’s iconic score as well, or if not then composer McCarrol has crafted an eerily close soundalike – and the easily likeable chemistry between the two leads fuels a grand portion of the rather sweet drama.
Some of its Toronto-specific humour may be lost upon a few unfamiliar viewers, but again the film works so well that it hardly matters where it’s primarily based, since its humour does prove to be largely universal. Also, it’s a movie that works best if you have a crowd, especially in some moments where an audience reaction really will elevate your overall experience.
But even if you end up watching it alone, the amount of joyful laughter you’ll get from Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is enough to power one’s own flux capacitor, generating more than 1.21 gigawatts of pure comedic entertainment.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is a hilarious comedy of endlessly wacky proportions that boasts some impressive guerilla filmmaking methods to create a distinctive and passionate Toronto-set caper for the ages.
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