The Grand (film)
| The Grand | |
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Promotional poster
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| Directed by | Zak Penn |
| Produced by | Jeff Bowler |
| Written by | Zak Penn Matt Bierman |
| Starring | Woody Harrelson Cheryl Hines David Cross Chris Parnell Richard Kind Dennis Farina Werner Herzog Ray Romano |
| Music by | Stephen Endelman |
| Cinematography | Anthony Hardwick |
| Edited by | Abby Schwarzwalder |
| Distributed by | Anchor Bay Entertainment |
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Release dates
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[1] |
| Box office | $114,669 (USA) |
The Grand is an improv comedy film directed by Zak Penn. The film has an ensemble cast including Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Chris Parnell, Werner Herzog, Jason Alexander, Dennis Farina, David Cross, Gabe Kaplan, Michael Karnow and Cheryl Hines along with several real Las Vegas poker stars.[1]
According to Penn, the film is styled after those of Christopher Guest,[2] where each actor is given direction concerning their character, and the actors are left to improvise each individual scene. The plot of The Grand was somewhat more open-ended than Guest's work, however. The focus of the film is a poker tournament played at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas between the characters in which real poker matches were played by the actors as the scenes were filmed. The film's script did not specify the winner of the tournament, and the ending of the film was determined by the actual game played on set.[2]
The film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment.[1]
The film opened in limited release in the United States on March 21, 2008, opened in wider release on April 4, 2008, and is now on DVD.[3]
Plot
Jack Faro (Harrelson) is a recovering drug addict who had so many relapses, he decided to move into rehab and just live there. Having been married 75 times, he is a serial husband and is always on the lookout for number 76. (He hits on a bartender who informs him that they had already been married, even though he has no idea who she is.). He enters The Grand: a huge Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament in Las Vegas created by his grandfather Lucky Faro (Barry Corbin). His main motivation is to win the $10 million prize to cover a loan he got to keep open his family's casino, The Rabbit's Foot, which his grandfather left him when he died and that he has mismanaged into the ground.
The rest of the players "won" their seats in an online poker tournament. They include the Schwartzman twins, Larry (Cross) and Lainie (Hines), who have been forced into a sibling rivalry throughout their lives by their father (Kaplan). There is also Harold Melvin (Parnell), a genius who still lives with his mother (Estelle Harris). Other contestants are Andy Andrews (Richard Kind), a math teacher; Deuce Fairbanks (Farina), a wily old veteran of Vegas, and The German (Herzog), a cheater who ritualistically sacrifices small animals to gain luck at cards.
Cast
- Woody Harrelson – "One Eyed" Jack Faro (The Sentimental Favorite)
- Cheryl Hines – Lainie Schwartzman (The Woman)
- David Cross – Larry Schwartzman (The Bad Boy)
- Richard Kind – Andy Andrews (The Unknown)
- Chris Parnell – Harold Melvin (The Lonely Genius)
- Dennis Farina – Deuce Fairbanks (The Old Timer)
- Werner Herzog – The German
- Ray Romano – Fred Marsh
- Barry Corbin – Jiminy "Lucky" Faro
- Michael McKean – Steve Lavisch
- Gabe Kaplan – Seth Schwartzman
- Andrea Savage – Renee Jensen
- Estelle Harris – Ruth Melvin
- Michael Karnow – Mike Werbe
- Judy Greer – Sharon Andrews
- Jason Alexander – Yakov Achmed
- Brett Ratner – "Sob Story" Barry Blausteen
- Hank Azaria – Mike "The Bike" Neslo
- David Pressman – Melville "Murph Murph" Murphy
- Tom Hodges – Tim "Tiny Wonder" Woolrich
- Shannon Elizabeth – Toni
Pro Poker Player Cameos
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of March 21, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 42% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 36 reviews.[4] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 61 out of 100, based on 13 reviews.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Interview: Zak Penn's The Grand (ComingSoon.net Blog) – ComingSoon.net
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
