Entertainment

Directed by Rick Alverson

Release Date: November 13, 2015 (select theaters, video on demand)

Score: 8.8 / 10

A short, slightly hunch-backed man stands facing the mirror in his cheap tuxedo, slowly fixing his vest as if every movement takes extreme effort. He wears over sized glasses with large, circular frames that slightly obscure the punishing details of his rapidly aging face. His hair is slicked to the side with an absurd amount of hair gel, finishing up his washed-out, vaguely senile appearance. His dull, colorless surroundings, lacking in any creativity or spirit, tell us that he is in a prison, but he is no convicted felon. He is The Comedian. Played by the suitably grim-faced Gregg Turkington (Gravity Falls, The Comedy), our nameless protagonist steps out to a crowd of inmates who have gathered to hear his stand-up act. Clutching three water bottles and wobbling back and forth on his feet, The Comedian launches out a series of tastelessly offensive and utterly heartless jokes that get a few laughs here and there from this particularly insensitive jail crowd. The lukewarm response in this prison is the best one he will get for the entirety of Rick Alverson’s delightfully uncomfortable film, aptly titled Entertainment. The film stars Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse) as The Comedian’s warm-up, Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) in his most unnerving role to date, and John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights) as The Comedian’s successful cousin.

Punishingly depressing and brilliantly confrontational, Entertainment follows its protagonist as he performs a series of stand-up acts throughout southern California and Nevada to increasingly poor results. In between shows, he explores the vast Mojave Desert and the few tourist attractions it has, which only serve to increase his sense of misanthropy. For a while, The Comedian is taken in by his cousin, John, who is perhaps the only sympathetic person in his life. “You try your best,” John tells him one night, trying to cheer him up after a disastrous performance at a local bar. “You do this weird show, but it doesn’t matter, because you’re trying. You’re getting yourself out there. You’re trying to tell jokes to make people happy. That’s what’s important.” But The Comedian doesn’t make anyone happy. He simply travels from venue to venue, upsetting crowds and then wandering into more and more surreal and sometimes violent situations on his way to a Hollywood gig that may or may not even happen, all while trying unsuccessfully to reconnect with his estranged daughter who won’t even answer his phone calls.

There is a scene early on in the film where The Comedian goes on a trip to visit the airplane graveyard in Nevada, a common tourist destination. He wanders through the carcasses of several planes, occasionally snapping photos to send to his daughter. This scene in particular summed up much of what the picture is about. Entertainment is the story of a man on the edge of the abyss, navigating his way through the forgotten corners of this Earth as he deals with the fact that he, too, is being forgotten.

This is undoubtedly the most cringe-worthy film I have ever experienced, and I found myself shutting my eyes to spare myself the second-hand embarrassment more than once. That being said, it was also a stunning portrait of comedy’s dark side that more than lived up to its title. Alverson’s smart direction and keen eye for haunting scenery wrap this passion project into a hideously bleak vision of America’s minor celebrities and the unique problems they face. The Comedian is alone in that desert graveyard and if he isn’t careful, he may never leave it.