I'd give this one an astounding 5 bags of popcorn and maybe a vhs copy labeled by the VFA as a tip of the hat to fellow greggheads it's an absolute must see and definitely worthy of an Oscar.

Watching Entertainment is as uncomfortable as watching porn with your grandmother. That's pretty uncomfortable. Gregg Turkington (a.k.a. Neil Hamburger) is a down and out comedian travelling through the California desert, performing his lewd stand-up routine in any dive bar that will book him. Indie director Rick Alverson (who also produced, wrote and edited the movie) clearly has an eye for visuals as he effectively captures the vast expanses of nothingness, a landscape that seems to mirror his protagonist's personality and talent. As far as the content is concerned, there really isn't any scene that fails to make the viewer uncomfortable and, if that was the intent, the movie is wildly successful. Entertainment is a hard film to assign a rating to – most will hate it, some will love it, and both will have valid arguments to support their opinions. Watch for yourself…and good luck.

I cd either give it 5 stars or no stars, so as we approach zero, I'll hedge my bets. A cross between "Waiting For Godot" and "The Aristocrats." Do not watch if you have just been told that you have 6 weeks to live.

I may be missing something here but watching a crappy comedian play at crappy venues and go on crappy tours in between does not a good movie make. Was that the point? The audience feels good that they are not this guy? Hard pass.

Just confusing bad comedy leaving multiple questions

It has a few elements I really liked, but which were ultimately indulgent distractions. The cinematography was interesting. I liked the use of colors and lighting. Neil Hamburger is obviously a big pull. I found it navel gazey and over-labored. I like films that can meander but this time it didn't work for me. The person I watched it with liked it. It's an acquired taste for sure, but I think the filmmakers were trying too hard.

This film is probably wonderful. I didn't know whether to give it 5 stars or none. As it became quite, no, very tedious I went for one. Kafkaesque. You sit wondering where the movies going. It goes nowhere. A very unpleasant leading character with some but little talent but who has a touch of real life about him. As a documentary it would likely be good, but not as 'entertainment'; don't expect to be entertained. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Very slow motion. I toss a coin. Go or don't go. ... Heads: don't go. (It was a double-headed coin).

Absolutely motherfuck these half-assed, pseudo-intellectual delves into cinematic masturbation. Neil Hamburger is a semi-anti-comedy genius. This movie is stupid and makes no sense. Fuck this film.

Love this movie, Turkington gave a great lead.

An awkward movie to watch. Keeps you watching with hopeful train derailment. The main character reminds you that one particular God awful one at the open mic night . But not the one who is bad it's genius. So bad, you want to put the dog down.

Uncomfortable from top to bottom: and that is the part I liked the most. Not easy to find a film that deliberately try to creep you out. What I did not like was the lack of the story direction and some very slow scenes. About the surrealism, I might have liked it more if I had also enjoyed the film more.

A film that requires the watcher to have imagination and prehaps patience, in a world of Brad Pitt wannabes and third rate comedians "acting" in massive budget soulless dirge, this is an excellent film. I did recognise two of the actors but never mind, they did not spoil it.

A stand-up comic playing an awful comedian who can`t handle hecklers, becomes his own creation through depression. This is bleak. A man unable to connect with an audience, let alone with people in his own life. (Does the daughter he phones up even exist?) Or with people drifting through it. When he finally reaches out, he is left holding the child. A dead child. Hey! It`s a comedy! Even when you squirm in your chair. Those drinks waiting by the elbow is a stroke of genius. The final poolside performance may be a failure (!), but hopefully signals a cathartic baptism. Success will not cure him.

Strangely satisfying at first, it eventually grows tiresome.

Brutally raw and depressing. Turkington plays his comic persona like an open wound exposed on stage for the world to see.

This, without a doubt, will be the toughest watch in recent memory. Terrible stand up comedians have their place, and can offer entertainment value in some form or another. Enter Greg Turkington, who as his alter ego Neil Hamburger has been mastering the craft of truly unremarkable, offensive, deplorable, mundane stand-up comedy, for decades. It is a disconcerning experience, watching an uncomfortable, struggling bomb go off on stage. There is heckling, there is groaning, there is long awkward silences, there is confusion, there is laughter, and sometimes, there is mayhem. Neil Hamburger is not for everyone. The act is a performance art piece, that relies heavily on crowd response, whether it be indifference, warmth or explosive hatred. It is a tough act to pull off on the big screen. Instead of documenting this bizarre phenomena, "Entertainment" uses the Neil Hamburger experience as the centerpiece in a hazy, dreamy, mind and road trip that mixes equal parts Antonioni and Lynch. Filmed super wide, it revels in deserted expanses, adding extra bleak factor to the snail paced non-action. It just feels weird. Shit happens, but seems irrelevant to any story line. John C. Reilly and Michael Cera pop in for oddball cameos, but leave no marks. Hamburger (unnamed for some reason) trudges across wasteland deserted towns to perform before indifferent crowds, with predictable results. Much time is spent on the between gig down times. Is this a joke? Is this art? Is this a movie? Is there anything to "get"? What it is, is a truly unsettling and painful experience for everyone involved, especially you. That may be the point. - hipCRANK

You really have to be in to a mood to see this. It's kind of anti-comedy. Parts of it don't really work just because they are nothing more than long shots of sitting or whatever and it becomes annoying (which I get is the point) but despite a few big laughs, I felt like this needed to be shorter add I felt like it was time wasted. Interesting thought experiment though

Interesting and confrontational but not too engaging.

Neil Hamburger is the best! This is a great movie filled to the brim with tasteless dark comedy. It's a lot like the nauseated feeling you get from opiates, but it feels so fucking good.

the only joke here is the title, because the movie is not at all entertaining, nor is it poignant, or anything else, a masturbatory, self-indulgent turd of a film, sorry to say