Entertainment

Comedian Neil Hamburger isn't for everyone. With greasy thinning hair plastered to his forehead, oversized glasses, a ruffled suit, and a perpetual frown, Hamburger looks the part of the road-weary lounge act journeyman—and his jokes match the style. Hamburger, the alter ego of comedian and musician Gregg Turkington, is the ultimate anti-comic whose confrontational, bad-taste act is designed to elicit groans and contempt from audiences. Director Rick Alverson's indie dramedy follows Hamburger, depicting what life is like for the comedian as he travels from town to town performing in clubs, bars, prisons, and other seedy dives. It's a solitary existence. When he's not onstage, Hamburger barely speaks, floating through detached encounters with people he meets (including John C. Reilly and Michael Cera at their deadpan best) on the barren desert roads around Bakersfield, CA. A series of unanswered voicemails to an estranged daughter further underscore an existential loneliness that eventually grows into dangerous misanthropy and despair. A slow, unsettling film, Entertainment will test the patience of many viewers, and Hamburger's self-destruction can be hard to watch at times. But the film's strength lies in its look and foreboding tone, with Alverson channeling David Lynch and Michelangelo Antonioni as he presents the weirder side of life in the vast expanse of nowhere, creating characters and images that crawl under your skin. A strong optional purchase. (P. Morehart)