The Grand (2007) - 6/10

The Grand is a pretty funny mockumentary about the professional poker circuit that is turned upside down by a bunch of well-known actors pretty much improving and making fun of themselves. I listened to the commentary track by writer Zak Penn and some others and even though they aren't that familiar, I enjoyed hearing the backgrounds of how they got each actor or why they included little details within the film to give more depth to the characters. With Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Werner Herzog, Jason Alexander, Ray Romano, Brett Ratner, Mike Epps, and a slew full of others, this movie is in the veign of say Spinal Tap where we get little cameos coming in and out of such randomness that it's so akward it's funny. For me, the Werner Herzog character who they say is a friend in real life, was the best as he needs to kill animals to feel comfortable all the time, even going so far as to keeping a petri dish of ants at the table next to him so he can squash one when he's losing. The over-the-top acting of each character is given to us in flashbacks as we eventually see the tournament unfold and elminate some with hilarious results. Woody Harrelson is depicted as someone who has been addicted to every drug imaginable and married over 100 times, a true vegas machine. Although the improv and dry humor of being bad at poker proved funny at times, there were almost too many people to get invested in so I found myself getting in and out of focus on the story. For a mockumentary, this isn't the worst but then again, this isn't something i'd want to watch again.