Plot
En route to meet his estranged daughter and attempting to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave desert.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 5.7/10 (346 voted)
Critic's Score: 73/100
Director: Rick Alverson
Stars: Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Lotte Verbeek
Storyline
En route to meet his estranged daughter and attempting to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave desert.
Writers: Rick Alverson, Rick Alverson
Cast: Tye Sheridan -
Eddie
Michael Cera -
Lotte Verbeek -
The Chromotherapist
John C. Reilly -
John
Dean Stockwell -
Frank
Amy Seimetz -
Rene
Becktoria -
Bikini Girl
Gregg Turkington -
The Comedian
Tim Heidecker -
The Celebrity
Tonantzin Carmelo -
Teresa
Mariann Gavelo -
Sitcom Maria
Kalia Prescott -
Maria
Waymond Lee -
Prisoner
Brenna Rhea -
Poolside Girl
Dustin Guy Defa -
Ruben
Country: USA
Language: English, Spanish
Release Date: 13 November 2015
Filming Locations: Ridgecrest, California, USA
Technical Specs
Runtime:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
Audiences not braced for what Rick Alverson's Entertainment has to
offer will be doomed for an unpleasant and gruelling experience. This
is anti-entertainment if anything, not in the sense that it uses
anti-jokes but the comedian protagonist is on the lowest rung of
humour. Using cheap sight gags, resorting to insulting the audience,
taking uncalled-for hits at celebrities and using not-so-funny voices,
the laughs the characters do get are cheap. This comedian is a 19 year
routine from lead actor Gregg Turkington, otherwise known as Neil
Hamburger, but that backstory has no relevance to the film's narrative
as he's otherwise unnamed. It's performance art, but also satirical as
it's not far from the truth of what some comedians actually resort to
in their acts. In that sense, it's a study on what's considered
entertainment, why people are drawn to it and what it means to people.
The film chronicles a cycle of repetitive sequences that grow darker in
despair. The comedian attends novelty tours on his journey, browsing at
eye-sore mechanical marvels in the middle of the desert, often away
from the main group and guide. Then he performs at third-rate gigs such
as dingy bars, often saying how he's travelled from miles away but
never where from exactly, and gets upset when the audience don't laugh
at his jokes. That's all part of his act, however, but it doesn't get
them more comfortable. His warm-up act is an amateur mime artist played
by Tye Sheridan, though how they're travelling together remains a
mystery. He calls his estranged daughter before bed in hopes that
she'll pick up and reconnect, but it's ostensibly in vain. Some other
characters take him aside, such as detours from his wealthy cousin
played by John C. Reilly, an example of success, and Michael Cera in a
four minute cameo as a hustler who wants company.
It feels like the films of Roy Andersson by way of David Lynch as a
surrealistic nightmare. From constant stumbles, the comedian is on a
broken American dream, both as a father and as a budding entrepreneur
with his comedy act – which it must be noted, is far from his stoic
self. He seems willingly isolated offstage, but abrasive when he's
onstage. If comedy is an escape for some, is that necessarily a good
thing? It can be cryptic in these scenes that don't tie in together,
but they're all expressing his anxieties and failure in his career and
fatherhood. Almost every gig he does is greeted by an apathetic 'good
show' from the manager while he looks dead inside. The tragedy is
off-screen and internal but it's palpable, highlighted by the
washed-out and carefully composed photography. Entertainment is a very
unsettling film, and at one point near its middle I found myself tested
by it, but it's thoroughly profound for those who want something
challenging and hauntingly beautiful.
8/10
Read more @ The Awards Circuit (http://www.awardscircuit.com/)
0