As I've mentioned in previous columns, I am a big fan of a well-edited sports-hype video, often marvelling at the slick production of ESPN's 30 for 30 series and the like, which often engineer my interest towards sports I otherwise would know little about.
So I took a keen interest in HBO's recent faux documentary, which lampoons the genre, aptly titled 7 Days in Hell.
Starring talented comedic actor and musician Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Saturday Night Live) and Britain's Kit Harrington, beloved by fangirls as the morose heart-throb Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, this 42-minute special purports to tell the "true story" of the longest match in tennis history.
Laced with pop culture references from late 1990s and early 2000s - aka "the noughties" - the film takes its inspiration, with added histrionics, from "the Endless Match" at the 2010 Wimbledon tournament between American John Isner and France's Nicholas Mahut.
For the record, literally, Isner and Mahut went at each other for 11 hours and five minutes, playing over three days, with the fifth set finally finishing at 70-68 to Isner and having taken more than eight hours alone, which in itself was an hour more than the entirety of the runner-up entry on the list of longest matches.
The opening sequence of 7 Days pays tribute to this as the camera shows Samberg's exhausted character trying for match point with the scoreboard behind him standing at 103-102 in the final set, while commentator Jim Lampley exhorts him to "end it ... just end it".
Narrated by Mad Men's Jon Hamm, while using the "talking heads" style of interview subjects to tell the story, the real-life sports personalities like Lampley, Serena Williams, John McInroe and Chris Evert play it straight and are joined by several of Samberg's SNL alumni as kooky characters to give straightlaced explanations to the absurd circumstances.
"In the fifth set of Wimbledon there's no tie breaks, so you play until one lad wins by two games," explains official Edward Pudding, delightfully played by the witty Fred Armisen.
"Be it 8-6, or 9-7 ... or 10-8 ... 11-9 ... for example," as his genial expression trails away.
"They could theoretically play forever ... which is scary for somebody like me who doesn't much like watching tennis," adds Lampley, who, in fact, covered the HBO broadcasts of Wimbledon for many years.
McInroe and Williams bring solid comedic timing, but you really want to watch for the great Michael Sheen, who portrays Caspian Wint as the classically jaded, chain-smoking, Jimmy Savile-esque sports presenter.
Yet the stars of the show are Samberg and Harrington - their characters fused together on the path to mutually assured destruction.
Samberg's Aaron Williams is the embodiment of the flamboyant Andre Agassi-like bad boy, with just a touch of Will Ferrell's Chazz Michael Michaels (from Blades of Glory) thrown in, as he engages in outlandish behaviour including, but not limited to, on-air copulation and doing cocaine off the court lines.
The beardless Harrington leaves Jon behind dead in the snow as his Charles Poole is a dim-witted and poncy mummy's boy, who was spotlighted as a "child prodigy" by the overbearing matriarch of his family, despite the fact that at 3-years-old he couldn't actually hit the ball.
This "mockumentary" was written by Murray Miller, experienced as a writer and producer on hit shows like American Dad and Girls.
Following those show themes of delightful absurdity, Murray sometimes misses base in attempting to accurately lampoon British culture, such as the fictional version of Queen Elizabeth II giving drunken tirades that were obviously penned with an American audience in mind.
The actual tennis action is filmed up close and very tight in frame to disguise the lack of genuine ability, although a 51-shot rally at the baseline about halfway through the film is wonderfully constructed between the actor's performances and special effects.
Director Jake Szymanski, known for short comedy pieces including SNL and the Funny or Die website, has done his research on big sporting event presentations and gets the premise pretty well pitch perfect here.
With its short length and solid pacing throughout, 7 Days in Hell doesn't dawdle or outstay its welcome, and works as great escapism entertainment and for sports watchers who don't take their codes too seriously.
It screened in the United States on HBO in July and will land on Australia's Showcase pay channel this weekend.
Hopefully that means you will be able to catch it on SoHo or one of the online streaming channels in New Zealand fairly soon.