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My Friends |
Not rated. () |
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All Flixster |
(626) |
252 |
334 |
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(127) |
51 |
67 |
Male |
(499) |
201 |
267 |
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| Best in Show (0%) |
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Plot: An improvisational comedy using a handful of actors playing characters competing in an actual poker tournament.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 28, 2008Terrible follow up to the excellent Incident as Loch Ness by Penn. In an interview he said that over 90% of the film is improvised and that may have a lot to do with how unfunny it is, nothing really seems to be that well thought out. Jokes, story, poker hands, everything. Also, having the least interesting character be the main one (Harelson's train wreck poker player) seems like another horrible misstep in expecting the audience to give a rat's ass about him. You do not need to "check" this one out (check as in "check" in poker rather than bet. Oh I am droll.)
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MCT:July 25, 2008This movie starts out so stupid that I nearly gave up on it... It picked up about 30 minutes in, although not a top pick for me, it was "OK..."
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MCT:July 2, 2008This was a great little comedy in the vein of the Christopher Guest films like Best In Show, going behind the scenes with the high stakes poker players.
Filled with quirky characters and stylishly shot, this is well worth a look.
Recommended. -
MCT:June 30, 2008
Great cast Chris Parnell, David Cross, Jason Alexander, Werner Herzog, Cheryl Hines(of Curb Your Enthusiasm), among others all in an improv comedy about the world of poker. All actors are at the top of their game here, but by the end of the movie almost everything has gone flat. The final game in the movie was apparently a real game where the character who won, won the movie, which though novel and interesting in theory, makes the actors in their final scene all but abandon the characters they'd been developing and try to really play (with a minimum of interaction), which unless your interested in poker isn't very fun to watch. The first half of the film where we are introduced to the characters is all funny enough, but there's no follow through here. If you like Christopher Guest movies, and improv comedy, or else love poker, this is for you.
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MCT:June 29, 2008If you like poker then you will love this movie! The Grand is a spoof of the World Series of Poker Tournament. The witty dialogue is funny, and it has great cameos.
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MCT:June 28, 2008
Nothing remarkable about this movie but I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS. A great cast makes the half-funniness of this movie enjoyable. My favorite character being the German, played by Werner Herzog, who I have a man crush on.
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MCT:June 27, 2008
Zak Penn, writer of various superhero pictures, makes his return to the directors chair in this wildly uneven but nevertheless entertaining improvisational comedy.
The film chronicles various poker players as they try to win big at The Grand Tournament in Las Vegas. Among the players are: Jack Fero (Woody Harrelson), a substance abusing womanizer looking to win the 10 million dollar pot to save his grandfather's passed down casino; Larry and Lanie Schwartzman (David Cross and Cheryl Hines), brother and sister competitors (also involved is their father and Lanie's husband, Fred, played by Ray Romano); Andy Andrews (Richard Kind), an amateur who has somehow made it all the way to the tournament, apparantly on luck; Harold Melvin (Chris Parnell), a lonely Dune quoting genius who lives with his mother; Deuce Fairbanks (Dennis Farina), the oldtimer with many stories to tell about the old Las Vegas; and The German, a hardcore, animal sacrificing, quote poet played by who else but Werner Herzog. Various other actors, directors, and real life poker pros have cameos, some good, some just meh.
There really isn't a whole lot to say for the plot, other than its about a poker tournament. Characters have their various story lines: Jack trying to save his casino; Larry and Lanie trying to deal with their overbearing father; Fred trying to get Manning on Yahoo! Fantasy Football; Harold and Andy have a budding friendship; Deuce, the German, and Jack's grandfather used to pal around, etc. Its mostly filler for comedy and those times where poker tables go on break. There are moments when the backstories have some very funny comedy (such as the relationship between Lanie and Fred); also very funny is Michael McKeen as the man trying to swindle Jack out of his casino. Other times the comedy is just a bit flat, backstory or front story. There are moments where jokes don't flow well, and certain jokes seem to be coming from another movie entirely. But overall, the laughs are consistantly there, not always big but grinworthy. Besides, McKean and Herzog, for the amount of screen time they have, are almost worth the price of admission alone. Brett Ratner, of all people, also has a couple good moments that I suspect might be either hit or miss with most audiences.
Penn is obviously going for a Spinal Tap or Guest-like rendering of poker tournaments. The dry wit is there, but so are the obvious go-for-laugh moments. Its not nearly as subtle as it could have been. The actors though mostly all deliver. Commendable in particular is the performance by Gabe Kaplan, pro poker player and Welcome Back Kotter alumnus, as Seth Schwartzman. He's annoying, as he was meant to be, but also pretty funny. Ray Romano is also very funny as the neurotic lighting strike survivor Fred.
So improvisational was the set that Penn stated that they even improved the final hand. They of course gave extra cash to players they wanted to win, but apparantly things didn't pan out.
Whatever the case, The Grand is overall a hit or miss affair that hits more often than it misses. I enjoy the impromptu nature of improv comedy, and the actors are clever enough to hit the funny in short bursts. -
MCT:June 20, 2008
The most enjoyable thing about this movie was the bizarre collection of character actors. Oddly, I think I enjoyed seeing Phil Gordon the most. But with a cast including Richard Kind, David Cross, Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano, Michael McKean, Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria, and Chris Parnell, to name a few, you really can't lose. The improvisational nature of the film brought about some amazingly funny moments, but also caused it to often cross over into ridiculous. And whenever the film tried to actually move forward plot-wise, it frankly got rather dull. Still, I'd have watched this for Chris Parnell's Dune references alone.
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MCT:June 15, 2008
The Grand is an improvised comedy; and the cast really flexes their comedic talents. But the whole thing felt TOO improvised; the plot often goes off on unnecessary tangents. A good try, somewhat humorous... but if you're looking for a poker film, this isn't it.
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MCT:June 12, 2008
This was pretty decent comedy. It's definitely for avid poker players to really enjoy it. I sorta got the gist of the game, but I was mostly focused on the comedy. Most of it was dry humor, but I still feel it can be enjoyed.
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MCT:June 8, 2008I'm not a huge poker fan so I guess I wasn't going to be a huge fan of this movie. but it was funny, kind of like Best In Show. Not laugh out loud funny, but still overall funny. If someone loves poker they would love this movie, if not, eh take it or leave it.
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MCT:May 3, 2008
This movie struck me as definitively average. Some of the characters were fun and interesting, but not enough that I actually cared.
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MCT:April 26, 2008
I give this one and a half stars only because of the send ups of actual poker players and little poker jokes that I found slightly amusing. Otherwise this was a pretty lame movie and the humour was a little too dry for my tastes.
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MCT:March 31, 2008"The Grand" is a comedy that starts with a group of annoying personalities who get on your nerves one way or another, and by the end proves each one likeable. Especially funny is the character of "The German" played by reknowned director Werner Herzog, but the other actors all give great performances for this film. It's funny, it's a good story, and the cast is terrific.
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