Review: In 'Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,' two losers turn time travel into a fame machine

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Whether you’re already on the inside or new to the party, the Canadian meta-comedy “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” about a music duo’s epic undiscoveredness, shows little audience favoritism as it ping-pongs between timelines, formats, realities, cultural shout-outs and its two indefatigable lead characters.Make that four leads, since director and co-writer Matt Johnson and his composer-best friend Jay McCarrol each play themselves twice, thanks to archival footage presented in this zippy mockumentary as evidence of time travel.Don’t be confused.

Or rather, be confused but adventurously so! Especially if you aren’t familiar with the cult web series from which this film derives.Indie-savvy viewers might know Johnson’s work from the moon-landing conspiracy lark “Operation Avalanche” or the cheeky docu-dramedy “BlackBerry,” both of which he directed and acted in.

But there’s no getting around the fact that if you haven’t encountered them before, then for a good while they’ll come across as Motormouth Clown in a Fedora (Johnson) and Understated Guy at the Piano (McCarrol).With three Ns to their band name (no relation to a slightly better-known group), a dream of booking Toronto’s longstanding live venue and only a cluttered suburban home to show for it, the duo’s act seems primarily to be coming up with boneheaded ideas for exposure.Johnson’s latest bolt of inspiration is for them to parachute from the top of downtown Toronto’s 2,000-foot CN Tower into the open Rogers Centre stadium below, a plan which meets with amusingly alarmed concern from a very real employee at the hardware store.

It’s the first of many encounters with unsuspecting citizens, à la the oeuvre of Sacha Baron Cohen.Movies Strong turns by Tessa Thompson, Amanda Seyfried and Jessie Buckley arrived in movies that rose to the top of a stacked slate at the Toronto Inter...