Entertainment (2015)

Truly Dreadful Film

Lack of good storyline.

Charming and brutal

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There is no end to the main characters misery in "Entertainment". It is uncertain to me whether the writers and filmmakers are aiming for a portrait of a beaten dog worth some compassion or a predator feeding on himself and everyone around him, as every well meaning word and action in his direction is ironically swallowed whole followed by a quenched belch. I'm having a hard time finding any love for him at all but am forced to see the story through. In the spirit of Brecht, this comedian have the choice to quit, face reality and stop being the hero that saves the day. But of course, it wouldn't be brechtian for him to do so. That choice is up to me and you. How low can you go and keep on not laughing? And when that laugh comes, is it the cleansing sound of a soul, or the croaking of crows on a corpse? This is tricky: the rating depends upon how aware the producers of "Entertainment" are of it's message. I don't know them personally so I can't be the judge of that, but I hope they give a F*** about the moral of the choice. Otherwise, this movie is just one more self loathing, self pitying, sexist and childishly narcissistic wet nightmare from a masochistic comedian of the male sex, caught in his own cynical material; artsy in the bad sense. But even so, this movie is a perfect kick-off for an interesting discussion.

I usually dig movies like this. Ones with wide open panoramic cinematography and nobody characters but this one really made no sense at all. We basically have this unstable guy who travels around doing a horrible comedy routine. He takes in the sights and wears a yellow hat. I get the premise of this movie. Basically it's a statement about how delusional we can be in our dreams. The main character absolutely fits that part. He doesn't know how to tell jokes, except to convicts and the most hilarity in his act is basically his comb over look. When someone heckles him he can't handle it and tears the person apart. He really doesn't care about anyone or anything.I do not recommend this movie even if you are a fan of independent movies. This one is really forgettable. It's not very good and its ending is abrupt and pointless.

An exploration through the dark side of entertainment. A feverish introspective nightmare of a character who remains more mysterious by the end of the film than at the beginning. Entertainment drags us along on a slow road trip through the desert with a comedian who loses his self along the way. The line between reality and dreams become completely blurred. The whole film seems like an inside joke the filmmakers refuse to let us in on. Sure, there are funny moments, especially during the first half, but by the end you'll be left with more questions than answers.It's emotionally heavy, bizarre, heart-breaking, surreal and even somewhat disturbing. What is truly masterful is how, without ever fully understanding who this character is, the film causes us to lose our sense of reality with him. He is explored, with great depth, inwardly without us ever sure of who he is on the outside. Rick Alverson has perfectly re-created the dream logic story telling techniques and beautifully strange cinematography of a David Lynch film. Yet, he does this using his own voice, which is strikingly original. Entertainment is somewhere between a broken character study, an absurdist comedy and modern tragedy.Entertainment is not for everyone and if you try using your brain while watching it, you may give yourself a migraine. If you try to use your heart to feel your way through, you won't be sure where to put it and may feel depressed afterwards. This film is a trip that you have to allow to wash over you. Let yourself get lost in it's wonderful visuals and be sure to have friends to discuss it with afterwards.

I saw Entertainment at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday and this is my first ever review.This is hands down the most incoherent, nonsensical, abhorrent piece of trash I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure the director was trying to set a standard for how to create a film that not only assaults the eyes, intellect, and sanity of the viewers, but to educate future filmmakers on how to ruin the audiences day.From the seemingly endless minutiae of wondering about, aimlessly, through life with a stupid look on his face to the series of comedy acts that are as inane as they are uncomfortable, the main character may be the most hopeless and awful person ever written. Each scene is unrelated to the former, resulting in a chain of thoughtless, boring, absurd moments that makes the viewer wish they were dead. Frankly, it's not even the loss of my time and my brain cells that bothers me, it's the poorest allocation of capital I've ever seen. What in the world were the financiers of this film thinking? Unless you hate yourself, go do anything else with your time. Hope this helps