The Comedian

Boring, meandering, and adrift in a semi-improvisational haze, this drama's loose premise centers on an unhappy telemarketer named Ed (Edward Hogg), who is a hit-or-miss comedian at night, playing in a club where he cultivates an angry persona onstage. Offstage, Ed is restless and callous with friends and lovers—including his female roommate (Elisa Lasowski) and Ed's new boyfriend (Nyasha Hatendi), whose discomfort with one another is exacerbated by Ed's thoughtlessness. Director Tom Shkolnik treats scenes like beads arbitrarily placed on a string, adding up to a shapeless movie intended to be energized by raw inventiveness. But the opposite proves to be the case: almost everything here seems interminable. Not recommended. (T. Keogh)