A few years ago, I was one of the most ardent supporters of Jim Hosking’s solo directorial debut, The Greasy Strangler. It was a film that appealed to me based on my adoration for the trashy transgression of John Waters and his rebellious contemporaries in the underground film industry, as well as someone who really appreciates quirky dark comedy. Hosking showed extraordinary promise, and even if The Greasy Strangler was a hideous film that pushed the limits of sheer watchability by presenting the audience with one of the most grotesque stories ever committed to film, it was an unforgettable experience. Naturally, I would be in anxious anticipation of his future work, and considering his exposure led him to cast some bigger names, I was hoping that he would be able to replicate the same transgressive brilliance that he showed previously. From the outset, I’ll just say that An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is the exact kind of film someone who has some mild success should not ever attempt to make – a convoluted, messy and tonally-ambigious muddle of a film that tries to capture what made the previous film enjoyable with absolutely none of the effort, there is very little within An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn to even like, let alone love. Perhaps not a bad film (that would at least make it interesting), but certainly one that beats the drums of mediocrity with furious passion, I was severely disappointed, and while Hosking did make a film with some charm (although its difficult to find), for the most part, An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is a relatively toothless affair that just doesn’t have the brilliance to be an effective dark comedy, nor the unhinged insanity to make it a profoundly memorable experience. In short, this is a misguided and difficult film to watch, and as much as I wanted to like it, I just couldn’t abide by whatever Hosking was trying to do with this film.

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn looks at the character of Lulu Danger (Aubrey Plaza), a repressed woman who works as a waitress at a coffee shop owned by her volatile and abusive husband, Shane Danger (Emile Hirsch), who is as temperamental with his wife as he is his long-suffering employees who are constantly pulled into his ridiculous schemes. When the financial situation at his store puts him in danger of bankruptcy, he is forced to retrench his wife, as well as taking part in a heist to steal the savings of his brother-in-law, who soon realizes who the culprit is, and sends the mysterious Colin (Jemaine Clement) to retrieve the money – only to have Lulu become enamoured with Colin, forcing him to take her to a small countryside hotel, where the strange Beverly Luff Linn (Craig Robinson) is holding a very special event for one evening only. There seems to be some connection between Lulu and Luff Liff, with a shared past that seemingly no one else knows about – but who will Lulu choose when it comes down to make the decision on which man is right for her – her abusive husband, the mysterious stage performer or the lovable but entirely idiotic quasi-hitman, all of which found their way into the path of the feisty Lulu, who doesn’t seem to know exactly what she wants either.

To be perfectly honest, An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is exactly as dull as it sounds, perhaps even more. The film takes the form of a series of moments tied together by a loose story that is barely notable enough to fill the space of a film ten times shorter than this. There isn’t really any story underlying An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn, and while there is a certain charm in films that dismiss grand narratives and rather present themselves as more meandering episodes, the same doesn’t apply to this. For whatever reason, Hosking seems to have decided to cast as many known comedic names as he feasibly could, give them very vague characters and thread them together with a story that just does not make sense. I found this film to be uncomfortable, unfunny, and not even worth the time it takes to write this review. Yet, I will still try and overcome this bothersome ambivalence I feel towards this misguided bundle of incoherencies and attempt to note that even beneath its complete lack of any semblance of logic, there is something worthwhile, because even if we put aside the fact that Hosking clearly did not even know what this film was trying to say when making it, this is an experience – perhaps one that isn’t particularly pleasant, as well as a film that may not be particularly memorable, there aren’t many films quite like An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn – and for better or for worse, that means something.

The most significant merit of An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn comes in the form of the cast. Previously, in The Greasy Strangler, Hosking composed a cast of relative unknowns and found an unlikely star in the form of Michael St. Michael, who played the titular character. An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn doesn’t have such difficulty, as there are some popular performers lending their talents to this film, for whatever reason. To their credit, even if the film around them is pretty awful, they do their best to actually make it watchable, and while it may not turn out to be quite so successful, they can’t be blamed for the convoluted mess, as they truly did embody the quality of doing one’s best, even if these are all performances we have seen from them countless times before. Aubrey Plaza plays Lulu Danger, and while I adore Plaza, I find it odd that she has not garnered the kind of roles she deserves, always starring in these subpar, offbeat comedies that may seem aligned with her brand of comedy, but ultimately just don’t utilize her to the best of their abilities. You have to admire her commitment to the role, and there are moments of vulnerability very rarely seen in her performances, which shows her considerable growth as an actress beyond the realm of being deadpan, dour and outrageously hilarious. Jemaine Clement, someone with a penchant for these kinds of weird roles, plays a character who we have seen from him countless times (and as an actor with a singularly unique comedic vision, he deserves much better than this), which means that he is reliable but unremarkable.

On the negative side, Emile Hirsch dons a blonde wig and some bad facial hair and screams for most of his performance, which is essentially all that he deserves at the moment. Craig Robinson grunts for the majority of the film, and then finally decides to start giving a decent performance in the third act, which we have seen from his countless times before. The only person that truly came close to impressing me was Matt Berry, but this was probably because I am endlessly devoted to his fiery brand of alternative comedy, and to see him in a film like this was a glorious experience. The problem with An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is that while everyone gave relatively solid performances, no one did anything we haven’t seen from them before – not to mention the intention behind this film was clear: cast a set of comedic actors known for their offbeat, oddball comical sensibilities, not realizing that while these are all individuals known for alternative comedy, they don’t necessarily align with each other. The biggest shortcoming of An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn, with the exception of its complete lack of a coherent storyline, is that it has the privilege of having a terrific cast – it just does not know what to do with them, and this cannot be forgiven, especially considering the unrestrained brilliance Hosking was able to get out of a cast of unknowns with his previous film. It isn’t enough to have a good cast when the film itself just isn’t good enough.

I mentioned that this is a film with some hidden charm, and that is true – and at the core, what Hosking was trying to achieve here was interesting at the very least. A dark comedy about a set of unlikable characters that come into contact, especially in the latter two acts, with the vast majority of this film taking place in a single location, the hotel where the titular event is set to occur. An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn has the form of being a traditional comedy-of-manner through the demented lens of someone like John Waters. Hosking has often been compared to Waters, especially for The Greasy Strangler, and not only is this a flawed comparison when looking at An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn  (Hosking has openly admitted he hasn’t seen any of Waters’ earlier films), it is an insult to the brilliant work of Waters, because even in the case of something like Pink Flamingos or Female Trouble, where Waters was trying to create truly despicable characters, he always looked at them with some love and affection. Hosking seems to show nothing but dire contempt for these characters in this film, both in how they are characterized, and what he does with the actors playing them.

There is something about An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn that just does not make sense – how does a film that has assembled some of the funniest people in the world manage to be this painfully unfunny? I wanted to try and be as gentle with this film as I could because it does take some great courage to make something that goes against mainstream conventions. The problem is, it just does not work in this instance. It worked before because The Greasy Strangler, beneath the macabre absurdity, had a heart and it truly did care about showing these characters in a way that was ridiculous but not despicable. An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is entirely soulless – it is an uncomfortable and awkward comedy that can’t even muster up a slight chuckle from the audience, and the sheer mean-spirited misanthropy underlying this film makes it even more unlikable. I am a supporter of odd films, and I have found solace in the strange and demented minds of many artists – but An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn just does not achieve what it sets out to do if it even set out to do anything in the first place. This is a film that is clearly attempting to be a cult film, but it just fails to do anything worthwhile that would qualify it to be something other than a dull and lifeless comedy that attempts to be funny without any effort, and rather than being absurdly entertaining, it is just a complete waste of time, in the bluntest terms possible. An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is not a very funny film, but it certainly is a bit of a joke.