Sundance 2012: THE COMEDY Exclusive Clip #2 - Hipsters Rapping in a Cab

We've got another clip from The Comedy, Rick Alverson's hipster comedy / drama that debuted at Sundance over the weekend to wildly divergent reactions. And this one gives you a brief, but bigger, taste of the film's tone, I think. 

Before we get to the reactions or the clip, however, news arrives that Rough House Pictures, the production company headed by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Jody Hill, has come aboard to present the feature. Discussions are reportedly underway with potential buyers, but the combination of Rough House's participation and the clip below should place the film in better context.

As to those reactions ...

Tim Heidecker stars as a hipstar named Swanson, who hangs out with his hipster buddies (including Eric Wareheim) and tries to imagine life if he weren't wealthy and privileged. The film has been praised as "maybe a tough sit given its subject and attitude, but [Alverson's] expert hand and intelligent nature creates a worthwhile, singular experience" by Christopher Bell at The Playlist, and derided as "90 minutes of pain" by Kevin Kelly at Film School Rejects, for reasons that he explains at length.

Another complicated reaction was noted by Jordan Hoffman at IFC: "Receiving more walkouts than anything else I've seen at the fest, those of us who stuck it out collected in the lobby to, first, pat ourselves on the back and, second, collectively agree that while The Comedy is one hell of a challenging film that may ultimately be bullshit, it deserves tremendous respect for its clarity of vision."

To further fuel the divisive fires, Heidecker tweeted that the film's "screening at the Sundance institute featured a shouting match during the q&a."

So, Sundance attendees, you may be enthralled or ... not, but The Comedy sounds like something the more hardy of you will want to see for yourselves. It will screen again tomorrow evening and Saturday morning. The rest of us can check out the clip below, which takes place in a taxi cab, with hipsters who spontaneously decide to rap ....