Andrea Savage and Woody Harrelson in "The Grand"
(Credit: Starz/Anchor Bay)
- Running time:
- 104 minutes
- Rated:
- R
- Cast:
- Woody Harrelson -
- One Eyed Jack Faro
- David Cross -
- Larry Schwartzman
- Dennis Farina -
- L.B.J. Deuce Fairbanks
- Cheryl Hines -
- Lainie Schwartzman
- Chris Parnell -
- Harold Melvin
(0 ratings)
If the recent writers’ strike has taught us anything, it’s that performers need material. It turned out that even really funny guys, say David Letterman or Jon Stewart, can’t fill a half-hour or more entertainingly without someone supplying the jokes.
As further evidence, Zak Penn and Matt Bierman wrote a treatment for “The Grand,” a film with high-stakes poker at the center. That’s where their wordsmithing ended, and Penn assembled a first-rate cast (Woody Harrelson, Dennis Farina, Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano, David Cross, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Mike Epps, Michael McKean, Barry Corbin, Richard Kind, Werner Herzog) to Christopher-Guest-improv their way through the tale of a casino heir who needs one big score to save the Rabbit’s Foot.
It’s hard to believe that a lineup so stellar could generate so few laughs, but there it is. In the press notes, director Penn asserts that “an improvisational movie strives to avoid the life-sucking qualities of the rewrite process.” What’s also life-sucking, or at least laugh-sucking, is a process in which a game actor is hung out to dry by the absence of characterization. Harrelson in particular is ill-served as casino owner Jack Faro, who for some reason had been married 74 times as the movie opens. And he introduces himself to a woman who once was his wife. And he does a lot of drugs. Hilarious, right?
Then there’s McKean, a Guest regular. His resume, from “This is Spinal Tap” to “For Your Consideration,” proves that this stuff is in his wheelhouse. Here he plays Steve Lavisch, a billionaire interested in blowing up the Rabbit’s Foot and building a huge hotel with just one room. Plus he has memory issues and loves to wear hard hats around the scale models of his projects. What’s that sound? Crickets.
What separates Guest’s winners from “The Grand” is his respect for the reality from which the humor flows—the human quirks to be found in the folk music or dog show scenes. Characters more pathological than quirky don’t generate laughs, just shudders.
And on that subject: director Herzog plays the German, a poker pro with a disturbing pet fetish. Penn says he cast Herzog because he’s “tremendously funny.” For funnier Herzog, see “Grizzly Man.”
mhart@tribune.com
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