![\"Nirvanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ntbtstm-2.jpg\"\/)
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Unusually for a comedy, the less you know the better. But the film takes its cues from Johnson (who directs, and previously helmed BlackBerry<\/a>) and Jay McCarrol\u2019s \u201900s webseries, which spawned a TV show in the \u201910s \u2014 and The Movie succinctly introduces their established dynamic. Johnson is the whirlwind ideas-fiend, whose outlandish schemes to achieve stardom are buoyed by goofy charm. And McCarrol is \u2014 marginally \u2014 the wiser counterpart, energised by his friend\u2019s enthusiasm. They\u2019re lovably hapless; to play the Rivoli, you sense they could simply call and ask. Instead, they\u2019d rather daydream stupidly big.<\/p>\n A monument to high-wire human creativity.<\/p>\n Cut to the present day, and a schism looms. The duo have nothing to show for their years of planning, sparking a last-ditch plot that sends things in a giddily unhinged direction, courtesy of a beloved \u201980s blockbuster and a discontinued soda bottle. What follows is one of the funniest comedies in years, packed with full-body guffaws and still-tittering-five-minutes-later asides. A sequence involving Toronto\u2019s CN Tower \u2014 shot v\u00e9rit\u00e9, with punky Jackass<\/a> energy \u2014 is both hilarious and heart-in-mouth tense, with a comic pay-off for the ages. A scene in which Johnson clocks a shift in his surroundings \u2014 via a Black Eyed Peas song and an eye-watering The Hangover<\/a> gag \u2014 is a genius moment of dawning realisation. And a \u2018Chekhov\u2019s Nerf gun\u2019 punchline is a delightfully cruel jolt best experienced with an audience.<\/p>\n The construction of NTBTSTM \u2014 blending new footage with material shot nearly two decades ago \u2014 is mind-boggling to comprehend. To call it a miracle would be a disservice; rather, it stands as a monument to high-wire human creativity, powered by self-belief and enduring friendship. At its core, it\u2019s a heartfelt, regret-tinged portrait of two ride-or-die pals \u2014 itself the glorious fruit of a real-world creative kinship. It\u2019s a privilege to witness, the kind of cinema to make you shout: \u201cGreat Scott!\u201d<\/p>\n An instant cult-classic comedy that should be seen with a rowdy crowd \u2014 and then cherished for years to come on repeated quote-along home viewings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt (Matt Johnson) and Jay (Jay McCarrol) have never achieved their dream of playing Toronto bar the Rivoli.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-654085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}