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Grand, The
EMAILPRINTAnchor Bay Entertainment
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Matt Bierman
Zak Penn
Directed by: Zak Penn
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 21, 2008
Running Time: minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language and some drug content
Starring Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, David Cross, Ray Romano, Jason Alexander, Dennis Farina, Chris Parnell, and Richard Kind
The Grand is in the tradition of such improvisational comedies as Best in Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world's second-most-famous high-stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker. The Grand was improvised from a detailed treatment cowritten by Zak Penn and Matt Bierman, who also served as Executive Producer. (Anchor Blue Entertainment)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Don R. Lewis
The Grand is a fast and furious comedic attack that begs to be seen again. There’s just so much going on, it’s nearly impossible to keep up.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
What makes The Grand a memorable comedy is that the main stories are really about families – how they screw you up and how they save you. And you don't have to understand poker to know the rules of that game.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Nearly every actor has his or her moments of hilarity, but it's the surprises, like Herzog's terrific turn as a bunny-loving sadist, that make the biggest impact.
Read Full Review >Premiere Aaron Hillis
The interpersonal dynamics haven't been scripted out very thoughtfully, so as the final 20 minutes wind down, it becomes increasingly tough for Penn and his talented cast to mine humor from a story that mandates they actually play elimination rounds of poker.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
While not a grand-slam comedy, the offbeat humor and easy byplay gives The Grand a winning hand.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
The Grand is a seesaw, but the setting--the high-stakes poker subculture--is remarkably fertile and the actors are a treat.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
It has a lot of affection for its screwy characters, and it has a cast worth watching even when the plot's held captive by a bunch of boring cards.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
What The Grand lacks in originality it more than makes up for with its high percentage of funny moments.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The year's big dramatic gambling hit, 21, is all plot, no personality; The Grand, a comedy that follows six contenders into the finals of a poker tournament, is all personality, no plot. I'll take personality.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The Grand is in the grand tradition of Christopher Guest "mockumentary" comedy satires: Its greatest asset is its eclectic, quirky-funny cast.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
The actors certainly look as if they’re having a good time, and if you’re in the right mood, you might too.
Read Full Review >Variety Ronnie Scheib
Safer, more conventional and closer to broad TV sketch humor than Christopher Guest's comedies of manners, The Grand never quite recoups in laughs what it loses in spontaneity.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
Wildly uneven but often quite funny, The Grand allows its actors to act out, get the "E!" out of their systems and give the Christopher Guest treatment to professional gambling without Christopher Guest, with whom it would have been funnier and a lot more acerbic.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Typical of bad improv, the inmates take over the asylum, leaving a movie that's little more than a loose, wildly uneven assemblage of individual comedic shtick.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
There are small pleasures, but not many. It especially underwhelms when you consider how Penn seemed to have found a new paradigm for this now-hoary comic form.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
There's a lot of truly hilarious material in The Grand.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
A defective poker comedy where the poker is a lot more interesting than the people playing it.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Each of these improv farceurs wins a few laughs. But not enough.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Lacks any sort of urgency or inner propulsion; the actors do their little goofs, then hand them off to the next, lending the jest the frolicking but ultimately monotonous quality of a game of tag.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Well, nobody said The Grand was another "Best in Show."
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Maureen M. Hart
It’s hard to believe that a lineup so stellar could generate so few laughs, but there it is.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
The performers don't really seem at the top of their game here.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chad S. gave it a7:
Werner Herzog and Gabe Kaplan in the same movie? The next best thing would've been if they had shared the same screen space. The legendary director of "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre, Wrath of God" is so funny, but what if the star of "Welcome Back, Kotter" got into a shouting match with him? Cult classic status would've been an automatic. Imagine this exchange. Herzog: "Ich bringe dich um!" Kaplan: "Up your nose with a rubber hose." It's a missed opportunity, but "The Grand" has enough eccentric characters and funny throwaway lines to excuse it's tendency to plod along without any sense of urgency. The bit that concerns a certain power trio from Canada doesn't quite match the hillarity of Steven Malkmus' shout-out in the Pavement song "Stereo"(from "Brighten the Corners"), but it's close.
Coolmonk S. gave it a7:
Jokes and characters hit and miss as seems par for so many mockumentaries - probably enjoyable for tv tourney poker fans and those who like the genre nonetheless. It was a challenge for me to accept that a real hand-held camera/crew would have made it behind the closed doors in several scenes. By contrast, my sense of continuity isn't usually shaken by the camera use in NBC's The Office.
Jay H. gave it a5:
Semi mockumentary, not really all that funny. I never found it immensely engrossing. Amusing at times but it doesn't stand out in any way.
