OFFICIAL SELECTION 2012
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL • INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM • SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL

“by far one of the most wildly inappropriate and pitch black comedies I’ve ever seen in my life… wickedly funny…
I was cringing as much as I was laughing, and as a result I’d call ‘The Comedy’
an experience rather than just a film you passively watch… pulls no punches in its extremity”
—Don R. Lewis, FILM THREAT

“The Comedy is a fiction film about a self-absorbed, filthy-rich, entitled, obnoxious, lazy hipster
who goes around insulting his friends and condescending to strangers—
and I genuinely, deeply cared about him. Much like Five Easy Pieces or Mike Leigh’s Naked,
director Rick Alverson and lead actor Tim Heidecker have masterfully created
a captivating character study about an unlikable character.
(Fans of Tim and Eric should delight in seeing a new level of skillful acting from the duo.)”
—Mark Elijah Rosenberg, ROOFTOP FILMS

A-
“digs up something that affects more people than just Brooklynites, the lack of sincerity in our lives and this generation's reluctance of commitment.
It's a meaty film, filled with ideas unobscured by any generic narrative string, a move that shows not only the confidence of the director but his respect of the audience.
This is one that'll have people talking.”
—Christopher Bell, INDIEWIRE

“Rick Alverson's cheekily titled "The Comedy" is not without a certain subversive intelligence.
A dark, determinedly abrasive study of a slovenly Brooklyn hipster …
this singular Sundance entry is certain to split reactions every which way…
Heidecker … gives a compulsively fascinating performance…
Alverson's unfussy filmmaking breathes quiet assurance, as Mark Schwartzbard's HD lensing
and a deftly underplayed synth score invite the viewer into a contemplative state.”
—Justin Chang, VARIETY

An epic display of the over-privileged, eternally adolescent white American male behaving badly…
Alverson is onto something culturally significant about the terminal disconnect bred by vapid self-indulgence…
—David Rooney, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“deliciously cringeworthy…
The Comedy drives a deep, un-ironic stake into the heart of current hipster culture and devil may care who ends us hurt in the aftermath...
Already, the film has proven polarizing amongst Sundance audiences but this is perhaps the greatest reaction possible…
Ultimately, that may be The Comedy’s greatest virtue, by mercilessly displaying the solipsism and misanthropy that irony
can induce in individuals through culture, be it through Pabst Blue Ribbon or too much bad mumblecore.
If you like this film then great, and if you are pissed off at it then that’s probably even better.”
—VEGAS OUTSIDER

“RATING: A
Heidecker embodies a supremely obnoxious Williamsburg resident
committed to wisecracks, regardless of whether or not anyone laughs. ”
—Eric Kohn, INDIEWIRE

“Word on the street is you either love or you hate The Comedy
-- an acerbic accounting of an over-privileged, aged Williamsburg hipster with a total lack of empathy...
director Rick Alverson’s commentary on this type of individual was very well executed, subversive and funny.
I never knew what the main character, played perfectly by Tim Heidecker in his first dramatic role, was about to do -- not even for a second.
For me, that was a major triumph of the film.”
—Liliana Greenfield-Sanders, THE HUFFINGTON POST

“the tone is not one of spiritual and sexual liberation, but of cultural bankruptcy and jaded disconnection.
Assholism is the only currency left in anyone's pocket... a perverse documentary”
—Steve Dollar, GREENCINE DAILY

“The Comedy is the first movie I've ever walked out of. Ever...
The movie is, on second thought, kind of brilliant...
One of the reasons for the visceral churn I experienced was: I've dated this guy. Not this actual guy, but a version of him. He is an archetype: the New American Manchild.
I've dated him more than once. Not by choice, mind you, but because he's impossible to avoid... It seems it's primarily the dudes who are responding
to the recent American comeuppance (comedownance?) with a seemingly terminal loss of meaning.”
—Heather Donahue, THE HUFFINGTON POST

“deserves tremendous respect for its clarity of vision...It’s not ‘Animal House,’ it’s Lars von Trier’s ‘The Idiots.’
—Jordan Hoffman, IFC