Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A Grand Old Time
This isn't a proper DVD review, but every now and then, in my travels through the world of cinema geekery, I come across a cool or weird (or in this case, hilarious) little movie that I feel the need to go on about, and The Grand is such a movie. It's a mostly-improvised comedy about a winner-take-all Las Vegas poker tournament with a cast that I wouldn't really describe as "all star," but there were very few actors who passed through the frame that I didn't recognize from somewhere.
As an improv "mockumentary," there are lots of similarites between The Grand and Christopher Guest's improv comedies like Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind, something director/co-writer Zak Penn was apparently going for, or at least so sayeth Wikipedia. It's not as good as those brilliant little masterpieces, but it had me laughing my ass off for most of its running time. Check it out if you're looking for something to chuckle at. It co-stars acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) as The German, an intense, uh, German who has to kill a living creature once a day (he travels with several bunnies and other small animals) to maintain his edge, which, believe me, is a crazy enough thing to type, let alone watch.
Also, I'm sorry about the title of this post. I know I'm better than that.
As an improv "mockumentary," there are lots of similarites between The Grand and Christopher Guest's improv comedies like Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind, something director/co-writer Zak Penn was apparently going for, or at least so sayeth Wikipedia. It's not as good as those brilliant little masterpieces, but it had me laughing my ass off for most of its running time. Check it out if you're looking for something to chuckle at. It co-stars acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) as The German, an intense, uh, German who has to kill a living creature once a day (he travels with several bunnies and other small animals) to maintain his edge, which, believe me, is a crazy enough thing to type, let alone watch.
Also, I'm sorry about the title of this post. I know I'm better than that.
Labels: improv, Mockumentary
¶ 2:12 PM
