In the past decade+ there's been no shortage of films discussing, presenting, engaging with, dealing with white male privilege. Alverson, here and in the two films following this one, is no different in that regard. These relatively "bigger" works, or perhaps projects that are of a higher profile compared to his first two films, taking an often comedic figure within our current society and channeling their own personal quirks into expressions of greater malaise occurring within American culture today.
It's hard for me to say this is really any more effective at presenting that idea than other films of a similar ilk but what I think Alverson manages here with Heidecker isn't powerful due to the idea itself than the way they engage with it. I wouldn't really say this is a particularly angry film, nor would I really label it as troll-ish, despite the comedy persona of its lead. Neither Alverson nor Heidecker here are lashing out at "modern masculinity", nor do I think they were interested in presenting it as such an obvious thing. Toxicity not through abominable actions, rather through the benign sarcasm that many of us (myself very much included) men instinctually, or put on, as a kind of defense mechanism. "Look I was being racist, but it was meant as a joke, so I'm not really being racist."
Perhaps the most striking thing is how honest and purposeful the entire thing is, and that may be what some take against. In the end, this whole thing isn't an elaborate joke, it isn't a satire, a film of utter deadpan comedy - it's placing the metaphorical mirror up to most of the audience who would be likely to watch this film. It's easy to see why one could call this film misogynistic, though that is an easy out. A way to explicate the actions of the main character without engaging with what it is he is representing. It's easy to shoot the shit and dick around with your buddies in the company of your home, but as the saying goes, when the shit gets real, you kind of don't know what to do anymore, which Alverson demonstrates in most of the film's second half. Sincerity and honesty can't sync up with irony and sarcasm.
The presentation isn't particularly interesting or special, the kind of hand-held aesthetic here lacks the concise and concrete quality Alverson would develop in his next two features. But it's clear that there's an attention to movement here that isn't in those two films. Capturing a kind of frisson of movement that is specific moment to moment, cutting around the fat, if you will, in a way that is ultimately more propulsive than the slowness his approach to narrative momentum otherwise presents as. While not at the level it would later be at, the beginning of him starting to drain the color from his films, greying the color palates, can be seen here. Let it be said, Alverson isn't a director who, so far, is interested in extravagant color(s).
Alverson, during the press tour for Entertainment often spoke about trying to upend tropes of the "road movie" genre, reframe the ideas while working within an established kind of narrative structure. Utilizing convention only as much as he can to lead to a conclusion which can be read as just as uncertain as its beginning, if not ultimately more cruel. The same can be seen here. In some sense, this is a coming-of-age tale, a manchild growing up in a time of personal crisis, the go-to narrative for so many Sundance indie filmmakers, but Alverson never takes the easy road. By this film's finale, nothing is solved and things may actually be worse off for Heidecker's character. A moment of fleeting pleasure and affection in the glow of sunset playing in the ocean waves reads more as tragic than as uplifting.
