‘Make yourself at boat…’
I wasn’t familiar with Tim Heidecker until his recent appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast. I enjoyed his appearance on that show enough to check out this surrealist black comedy starring Heidecker from writer-director and fellow actor Rick Alverson. It’s weird, uncomfortable but somehow strangely hypnotic…
There isn’t much in terms of plot. Heidecker plays Swanson – a mid-thirties slacker indifferent to the imminent death of his father and indeed indifferent to pretty much everything in life other than having fun. If Tom Green’s character from Freddy Got Fingered had mellowed slightly and gathered a group of like-minded friends he may have ended up something like Swanson from this film.
The Comedy is funny, sometimes uproariously so. It’s also difficult to get on with at times and wilfully abrasive. Heidecker revels in being a dick to everyone and spends much of the film shirtless with a drink in his hand. It’s difficult to tell whether Swanson is an expression of the inner child or a cautionary tale (or both) but much of your enjoyment of The Comedy will depend on your reaction to Heidecker himself. I can imagine this movie making some people genuinely upset. At one point, our fearless hero watches on as the girl he likes has a seizure. He is nonplussed. He is shirtless. He is drinking a cocktail. If you can’t find the humour in that scenario this probably isn’t the film for you.
The Comedy is an oddity. Barely a film at all really. But for reasons I can’t quite understand I couldn’t look away.