Review of The Grand (2007) by Tor M — 03 May 2008

You don't have to know about poker to enjoy this but it helps, particularly when you see a few poker pros and commentators making cameos. Although in general an enjoyable and funny movie, with such an incredible cast (Michael McKean, Cheryl Hines, Woody Harrelson, Ray Ramano, David Cross, Richard Kind, Judy Greer, Jason Alexander, Dennis Farina, etc.) it is a bit underachieving.

Fans of Christopher Guest's oeuvre will like this movie but it is not quite up to Guest's high standards. I think that the reason for this is character development. Guest does this brilliantly yet subtly in a way which gives his cast regulars (particularly Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) the chance to create and then reveal various layers of eccentric personality traits, while Zak Penn's characters come across as slightly two-dimensional, leaving wonderful improv actors like Cheryl Hines and David Cross little with which to work. I will say though that Chris Parnell from SNL is excellent as the under-socialized (and under-solarized!) dead pan poker nerd, who admits 'I have lived with my Mom... since I was born'.

Worth a watch if you like the mockumentary, improvised style, although I would agree with other reviewers that it is perhaps 10-15mins longer than it should be.