The Grand: Busted flush

After seeing the hit blackjack drama 21 last week, I wrote a rant for our PopSmart blog, “Stop making movies about Vegas, baby!”, and Hollywood’s current love affair with Sin City. As if in answer to my plea, The Grand offers a delightfully seedier portrait of Las Vegas casinos and the gambling lifestyle in a frivolous portrayal of high-stakes poker matches.

Director Zak Penn follows in the footsteps of such Christopher Guest films as Best in Show and rides herd over a rambling, loose-goosey comedy with largely improvised dialogue. Guest’s favorite gags and regular ensemble have become a little familiar, so The Grand enjoys the benefits of some fresher faces, including David Cross and “Curb Your Enthusiasm’s” Cheryl Hines as uncouth twins motivated by fierce sibling rivalry; Chris Parnell as an obsessive-compulsive math whiz with an amusing Dune fixation; and Richard Kind as a wide-eyed Wisconsinite who lucks into the championship.

The Grand’s inspired casting also includes Woody Harrelson as a drug-addled goofball trying to save the family casino, director Werner Herzog as a sadistic cardsharp called “The German” and Ray Romano and Gabe Kaplan matched up as in-laws – their scenes a kind of summit meeting of nasal-voiced sitcom stars.

Compared with Guest, however, Penn doesn’t have the same gift for turning testy behavior and desperate blather into narrative momentum. The Grand relies too heavily on its characters’ labored quirks (Romano’s role is a “lightning survivor”-turned-crackpot-idea-man) and not so much on the conflicts between them. It bets on wearying personalities like dim-witted announcer and poker expert Mike Werbe (Michael Karnow), whose antics come up bust – and admittedly make you miss Fred Willard, Guest’s go-to guy for announcer roles.

The Grand is the kind of comedy in which the big set pieces pale in comparison with the throwaway jokes, such as Harrelson’s idea for a theme hotel/casino based on the Chicago Fire. The film completely grasps the oddities of poker as a TV spectator sport and Internet phenomenon, and its unglamorous portrayal of Las Vegas is long overdue. Dennis Farina delights in his snarly role as an old-timer who waxes nostalgic for Vegas’ heyday, when violence and bigotry ran rampant. You don’t hear sentiments like that in the Ocean’s 11 movies.