ENTERTAINMENT (Rick Alverson). 102 minutes. Opens Friday, November 13. Rating: NNNN
Watch online: iTunes
In the anti-comic Neil Hamburger, Gregg Turkington created a cult caricature of an old-school comedian whose caustic sense of humour is more likely to make his audience gag than laugh. Rick Alverson’s Entertainment casts Turkington as a version of Hamburger, and explores just how awful it would be to really be that guy.
Like Alverson’s previous feature The Comedy, this is a movie about someone whose outlandish persona masks an emptiness that goes straight to his soul. Unlike The Comedy, which was grounded in a recognizable reality, Entertainment is a more surreal and alien construction, its disintegrating hero shambling through awkward encounters on an endless tour of bars and diners.
They’re terrible venues for comedy, worse places for humanity. No wonder he’s trying to make people laugh.
Don’t miss our interview with Turkington here.
