A steady, slow-burn descent into the inner desolation of a troubled comedian (Gregg Turkington) performing a darkly funny night club shtick for a string of hostile audiences. Entertainment is more tonally and stylistically polished, as well as emotionally effective, than Rick Alverson’s previous film The Comedy. Alverson impressively depicts how the emptiness of road life – from the deadening banality of tourist attractions to the scarcity of interpersonal connection – seeps into both the comedian’s act and his meager personal life, resulting in a psychotic break in which he seems unable to separate reality from hallucinatory interludes. This is a deeply, deeply disturbing film. The unnamed comedian is so awkward and unpleasant from the very beginning that it reduces his character’s arc, but there is a method to this film’s madness, as well as an expressionistic skill.
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