"The Grand" is an improvisational, documentary-style comedy about a poker tournament in Las Vegas. The story tracks six characters on their journey to get to the final table.

The style of the film follows in the footsteps of other comedies like "Best in Show" and "This is Spinal Tap" with a feel of the realism of the World Series of Poker on ESPN. Director and co-writer Zak Penn (writer of such action films as "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Behind Enemy Lines") created a skeleton of a script called a detailed treatment that was only 29 pages long for the actors to improvise from. The film is a combination of documentary-style interviews and home footage for each of the characters along with scenes from the poker tournament. Because the film was made in this style, the dialog seems incredibly realistic and organic which only adds to the comedy.

Woody Harrelson ("Semi-Pro"), David Cross ("Arrested Development"), Dennis Farina ("Law and Order"), Cheryl Hines ("Waitress"), Richard Kind ("Mad About You"), and Chris Parnell ("Saturday Night Live") play the six main characters. Cross and Hines play the competitive Schwartzman twins who are professional poker players, Harrelson plays addict and casino owner One Eyed Jack Faro, Farina plays Vegas veteran Deuce, Parnell plays the idiosyncratic and mathematical genius Harold Melvin, and Kind plays clueless amateur poker player Andy Andrews.

There are several supporting roles filled by notable actors to round out the cast including Ray Romano, Judy Greer, Shannon Elizabeth, and Hank Azaria. There are even some real poker players featured in the tournament, such as Doyle Brunson and Phil Gordon.

As a whole, the cast is a knock-out. In particular, Harrelson was stupendous as Faro. His character joins the tournament in order to save his inherited casino from ruin. Faro has been married over 70 times and is a self-proclaimed screw-up and drug addict.

Parnell as Harold Melvin is also fantastic. He is a genius who still lives with his mother and wants to win the tournament in order to build a house that will keep her away from him forever. He is a loner with no friends who likes to quote "Dune" as he drinks his health juice concoction.

Obviously, each character has a very different background which only brings more comedy to the film. Besides the main characters that make it to the final table of the tournament, there are a slew of other characters that create added obstacles throughout the film. Perhaps my favorite character in this capacity is The German, played by Werner Herzog. He checks into the hotel with practically a kennel of small animals and in his interview section of the film he admits that he needs to kill something each day with his bare hands.

The DVD has several special features. There are alternate endings as well as deleted scenes, and a feature called "Wild Cards: Player Profiles." Along with a full-length feature commentary there are also selected scenes from the film with actor commentary.

For a film that will keep you laughing and to find out who wins it all in the end, check out "The Grand" on DVD in your local store's new releases section.

Please send your comments, questions, and DVD recommendations to Kelsey at pop@normantranscript.com.