There's a lot of comedians trying to be funny and failing in this. The characters are meant to be unfunny, but it didn't make it any less unpleasant to watch.
The movie follows Neil, a comedian who isn't self-destructing so much as slowly decaying. He drives his shitty car across an empty desert, telling a series of increasingly bad, senseless, vulgar jokes at increasingly smaller and crappier venues.
His travels keep presenting Neil with situations you might expect a comic to try and build into their act, but Neil never does that. Because he never engages with them. The experiences seem to have leave no impression. People speak to him, but it feels like they're merely speaking at him, because it doesn't produce any response. He's drifting through an increasingly dwindling life.
His unwillingness to engage makes it hard to engage with him or the story. He shuffles around with this look of poleaxed stupor on his face, as though none of it means anything. It's actually kind of impressive how resolutely the film sticks with it. The universe keeps trying to draw him into things, and he simply doesn't. When he does express an emotion, it's something bitter and hateful, so it's difficult to feel much for him, other than some vague pity. Mostly, I just wanted him to quit doing comedy so I wouldn't see any more scenes of him trying.
The film uses a lot of eerie, unsettling sounds for the background music. There's one, sounds like a distant air raid siren, or a train's horn, that gets a lot of use. Typically in the moments where he feels the isolation most strongly.
They did a good job making the movie they wanted, but I wouldn't recommend it. Unless seeing someone much worse off than you perks you up.
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