FLIFF review: Oddball poker mock doc 'The Grand' is a push

The spirit of Christopher Guest is alive and well in The Grand, a mock documentary about a poker championship and the motley crew competing to win it.

The only problem: The filmmaker behind Best in Show and A Mighty Wind is also alive and well, so there isn't really any need for another director to emulate his iconic comedies.

But that's still what Zak Penn, up until now established as a screenwriter with a concentration in superhero movies (Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand), decided to do.

The results are mixed-positive, although Penn gets lucky with a strong cast led by Woody Harrelson as a degenerate frequenter of rehab and divorce lawyers. (Richard Kind and Michael McKean, both veterans of actual Guest films, also have roles.)

Other standouts in the improv-heavy cast include David Cross and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines as competing brother-and-sister poker experts (with a surprisingly likable Ray Romano playing Hines' hapless husband); Dennis Farina as a Vegas veteran; and, somehow, the extraordinary director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn) as a sociopath known as "The German" who kills small animals to, you know, relax. Herzog in this unlikely role is worth the price of admission.

— Phoebe Flowers
Sun Sentinel

News Added: 19 October, 2007

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