The Grand 2007

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Penn only wanted to create his world, not explore it, and failing that he axes the players as quickly as possible as though he's bored and ready for the credits Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Zak Penn's The Grand is a seesaw, but the setting -- the high-stakes poker subculture -- is remarkably fertile and the actors are a treat. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: There may be too many cooks here, too many TV stars trying to make an impression in a relatively high-profile independent film, but they connect just often enough to leave you smiling. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Too much of The Grand is eaten up by thin conceits that go nowhere. Read more

Maureen M. Hart, Chicago Tribune: It's hard to believe that a lineup so stellar could generate so few laughs, but there it is. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's obvious that The Grand's director, Zak Penn, set out to make the Best in Show of high-stakes poker, but to raise the ante, he piles up the absurdities and zany backstories. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The Grand lacks any sort of urgency or inner propulsiveness; 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 more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Even if you know nothing at all about the game, you'd be hard-pressed to find better entertainment for such a modest entry fee. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The sort of half-baked vanity project favored by the Tribeca Film Festival, Zak Penn's The Grand features a slew of recognizable faces in a fitfully funny improvised comedy. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: As my idol Joe Bob Briggs used to say, that's an awful lot of plot getting in the way of the story. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: You eventually get the feeling that the actors are riffing mainly for each other. Their attitude is, 'We're talented, trust us, we know how to be funny,' but in the end, it's mostly just a bluff. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is not much more than a gusher of oddball character sketches and ricocheting gags, but its manic pace and over-the-top inventiveness make The Grand a solid bet. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: The 'card flick' has usually been a standard western, drama or crime deal -- that is, until a pack of mostly veteran comic actors tried their hand at improvising, Christopher Guest-style, in the highly amusing The Grand. Read more

Philip Marchand, Toronto Star: This failure of steely intention, combined with a not quite satisfactory resolution of the fates of the characters, keeps the movie just shy of being a first-rate comedy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The Grand is in the grand tradition of Christopher Guest 'mockumentary' comedy satires: Its greatest asset is its eclectic, quirky-funny cast. Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: Put Herzog at the same table as Hines, Harrelson, Parnell, Cross, and Farina, and poker on film starts to look a lot less dull. Imagine what they could do with Monopoly. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: Just showing us what ex-sitcom stars and Bavarian directors do in their spare time isn't quite enough to justify The Grand, which does for poker what Best in Show did for dogs while completely avoiding any jokes about poker-playing canines. Read more