The Grand is an improvisational comedy which ultimately is a letdown because it simply is not funny enough. There are some talented performers here who you would think might be able to make something like this work but it never really comes together. The movie has its moments but even at its best it is never really laugh out loud funny. And for whatever moments there might be which kind of work there are many more moments which just don't work at all. Doing improv can be like walking a high wire without a net. And this movie more or less falls off that high wire and goes splat.
The movie centers around a major, $10 million winner-take-all poker tournament and the eclectic, eccentric cast of characters chasing the big prize. Unfortunately most of these characters are probably a little too eccentric to be taken seriously. Then again this is not really a movie meant to be taken seriously, it's meant to make you laugh. A shame then that it fails at that too. There may be some mild chuckles here and there but the movie never hits any great comedic heights. Among the performers David Cross is the only one who really stands out. He's actually very good. Everyone else ranges from mediocre to total dud. Woody Harrelson's the purported star of the movie and he's rather lifeless although to be fair it almost has to be that way for the character he's playing. Richard Kind, playing a poker novice, is moderately amusing but none of the other major players in the tournament bring much to the table. And some of the supporting performances are terribly disappointing. Michael McKean's character is eccentric to the point of stupidity. It doesn't work at all. Ray Romano has probably never in his life been as desperately unfunny as he is in this movie. Gabe Kaplan is incredibly dull. And poker commentator Mike Werbe, played by Michael Karnow, is an impossibly annoying abomination. Every time he opens his mouth you want to reach inside the screen and slap him. And, while a novel concept, improvising the poker poses a major problem as well. Because if the actors play stupidly your big finish will not ring true to any serious poker player and it will ultimately doom the movie to failure. And never underestimate the ability of actors to play poker stupidly. Let's just say it ends up being a little difficult to believe in some of these characters as professional poker players after actually watching them play. Although to be fair by the time we get to the end the movie was probably doomed to failure anyway no matter how the poker played out. This movie was an interesting idea which unfortunately was not executed well at all.
The movie centers around a major, $10 million winner-take-all poker tournament and the eclectic, eccentric cast of characters chasing the big prize. Unfortunately most of these characters are probably a little too eccentric to be taken seriously. Then again this is not really a movie meant to be taken seriously, it's meant to make you laugh. A shame then that it fails at that too. There may be some mild chuckles here and there but the movie never hits any great comedic heights. Among the performers David Cross is the only one who really stands out. He's actually very good. Everyone else ranges from mediocre to total dud. Woody Harrelson's the purported star of the movie and he's rather lifeless although to be fair it almost has to be that way for the character he's playing. Richard Kind, playing a poker novice, is moderately amusing but none of the other major players in the tournament bring much to the table. And some of the supporting performances are terribly disappointing. Michael McKean's character is eccentric to the point of stupidity. It doesn't work at all. Ray Romano has probably never in his life been as desperately unfunny as he is in this movie. Gabe Kaplan is incredibly dull. And poker commentator Mike Werbe, played by Michael Karnow, is an impossibly annoying abomination. Every time he opens his mouth you want to reach inside the screen and slap him. And, while a novel concept, improvising the poker poses a major problem as well. Because if the actors play stupidly your big finish will not ring true to any serious poker player and it will ultimately doom the movie to failure. And never underestimate the ability of actors to play poker stupidly. Let's just say it ends up being a little difficult to believe in some of these characters as professional poker players after actually watching them play. Although to be fair by the time we get to the end the movie was probably doomed to failure anyway no matter how the poker played out. This movie was an interesting idea which unfortunately was not executed well at all.