The Grand 3 stars
Woody Harrelson, Chris Parnell, David Cross, Cheryl Hines
Directed by Zak Penn
Shows again June 8 at 3 p.m.
At first glance, The Grand is your standard sports movie. You’ve got Harrelson as “One-Eyed” Jack Faro, a misfit who has inadvertently bungled his late grandfather’s casino into imminent demolition. To save it, he has to win the Grand, a big poker tournament. Competing against him are the usual assortment of stereotypes: the dueling brother and sister, the Internet newbie, the geek savant, the old-school Vegas mobster and the eccentric-accented foreigner. Of course Woody will win, right? He’s the down-on-his-luck hero and the biggest name in the credits. Except, this film is almost entirely improvised, and the final poker table is played by the actors for real, so anything can happen.
That’s the experimental premise of The Grand, and if you’re intrigued by that, then read no further because, while I’d never reveal spoilers, I don’t even want to give any hints. But here’s the problem: If One-Eyed Jack wins, then the movie is as predictable as any sports movie. But if he loses, it’s unsatisfying. But suppose he does lose. Surely the filmmakers would twist and contort the ending somehow to make it satisfying. But if that’s the case, and they can finagle a satisfying ending from anyone winning, then what’s really at stake? These were the thoughts racing through my mind during the climactic poker scene—a scene that, as my colleague Josh pointed out, was lacking in improvisational humor because the actors were concentrating too hard on actually winning poker.
I found the final table fairly suspenseful because I knew that anybody could win. But had I not known that, I don’t think the scene would play dramatically, and the ending would be either predictable or irritating, depending on who wins.
The rest of the film is hit and miss. When the laughs hit, they hit hard, the way only improvisation can because it’s too random and quirky to be scripted. But there are also a few dry spells, as though we’re watching scenes that were filmed, but hoped never to be seen because someone else should have won.
Ultimately, The Grand is an experiment, and I applaud co-writer/director Penn for daring such an experiment. The result is something of a bad beat, but in some casinos, there’s a nice payoff even for that.