Ari Aster directs Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone and Amy Ryan in this pretentious shaggy dog story where a man basically crippled with neurosis goes on a near-pointless odyssey.

Doesn’t stretch Joaquin one little bit. And that is a waste. There’s a certain fecund blankness to his performance and the overall intent that chinstrokers and Letterboxd dweller might get lost in… for the rest of us though? Not much. The opening act is an anxiety nightmare, a near dystopian trip across the street. It had me. I’d watch this extended high wire sequence of urban horror again on its own and as daring filmmaking goes, the promise of what Ari Aster can achieve for me somehow always outweighs the flabby final product. The rest is two hours of patience testing rectum exploration followed by a gob in the mouth as an anti-comedy punchline. Oh dear. I went to a deserted late night showing of this with four big bullet cans of Innis & Gunn, a tube of Smokin’ Sweet Chilli Pringles and some cheap guacamole in my backpack. I made my own fun.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Inherent Vice (2014)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/