The Comedy
Swanson (Tim Heidecker) is an upper class New Yorker who alternately feels apathy and resentment to his surroundings. He lives on a boat and spends his time partying and wandering around the city with his hipster friends, humorlessly lampooning and mocking various strangers they encounter. As of the beginning of the film, Swanson's father is comatose, and he is set to inherit his estate, as his brother is in rehab. The film has no clear narrative, instead showing individual scenes of Swanson's behavior as he improvises in situations to make strangers and acquaintances uncomfortable. Swanson and his friends ridicule one man, Cargill (Jeff Jensen), who shows vulnerability while saying they are important to him. Cargill continues hanging out with them regardless. Swanson takes a girl onto his boat from a party, and becomes fascinated with pulling on her eyelids later when she is sleeping. He visits a bar in a poor neighborhood with a primarily African American customer base, flaunts his wealth, and eagerly predicts the bar will soon be gentrified. At one point, Swanson pays a cab driver 400 dollars to let him drive, then speeds recklessly and harasses a woman from the driver's seat, leaving the cabbie to deal with the fallout. On a whim, Swanson takes a part-time job as a dishwasher. His extremely sarcastic sense of humor attracts a waitress, who he takes onto his boat. While undressing, she suffers a seizure, which Swanson observes with vague interest. Swanson's friend Van (Eric Wareheim) shows the group a slide show of photos from his childhood interspersed with pornographic images as a gag. Despite some initial laughs, the group falls silent and everyone appears saddened, including Van, who solemnly continues the slide show. In the final scene of the film, Swanson visits the beach, where he plays in the water with a young child, an activity he seems to genuinely enjoy.
comedy, depressing