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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 10085
Released: December 17, 2002 |
| Our Price: $4.40 |
| Used Price: $3.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Martin Scorsese's The King Of Comedy is a funny depiction of the dangers of celebrity fandom. Robert De Niro plays the ridiculously inept Rupert Rupkin, an aspiring comic who idolizes talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). Still living at home with his mother, Rupert spends his days trying to arrange a meeting with his hero. When he isn't doing that, he's at home talking to carboard cutouts in his makeshift television studio. After Rupert convinces Rita (Diahnne Abbot), a pretty bartender, that Langford has invited them to his house outside the city, the reality of the situation makes itself painfully apparent upon arriving at the star's front door. Trouble is, Rupert's too delusional to take the hint. He eventually hatches a plan with an equally obsessed fan, Masha (Sandra Berhard), to kidnap Langford in exchange for a chance to let him deliver his routine on the air.
Description of The King of Comedy:
The King of Comedy, which flopped at the box office, is actually a gem waiting to be rediscovered. Like A Face in the Crowd (a not-so-distant cousin to this film), Network, and The Truman Show, its target is show business--specifically the burning desire to become famous or be near the famous, no matter what. Robert De Niro plays the emotionally unstable, horrendously untalented Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe Vegas-style comedian. His fantasies are egged on by Marsha, a talk-show groupie (brilliantly played by Sandra Bernhard) who hatches a devious, sure-to-backfire plan. Jerry Lewis is terrific in the straight role as the Johnny Carson-like talk-show host Jerry Langford. De Niro's performance as the obsessive Pupkin is among his finest (which is saying a lot) and he never tries to make the character likable in any way. Because there's no hero and no one to root for, and because at times the film insists we get a little too close and personal with Pupkin, some will be put off. Yet it's one of Scorsese's most original and fascinating films, giving viewers much to consider on the subject of celebrity. Its inevitable climax is clever and quietly horrific. --Christopher J. Jarmick
The King of Comedy Reviews:
The King of Flies 
2009-10-17 - It would be easier for me to say what I don't like about this film if I felt certain as to what kind of film it was trying to be. There is bonus material on the DVD and the interview with Scorsese seems to indicate that he intended it as a comedy, perhaps a dark comedy. But it fails as a comedy, or as anything else it might be. There are funny parts, and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the more outrageous scenes, but the humor is interspersed with scenes of depressing pathos, and since the character of Rupert Pupkin is never likable, it's nearly impossible to feel any compassion for him.
What I resent the most, and what makes this film dishonest, is that we are led to believe that Rupert is, as the Amazon reviewer writes, "horrendously untalented." We are subjected to painfully bad one-liners to prove the point. Also, we are led to believe that Rupert is delusional, lacking the intellectual nuts and bolts necessary for a rudimentary understanding of how the world works. Rupert wants to be the King of Comedy, but he doesn't want to "waste his time" working in comedy clubs, or perhaps, in his egomania, he thinks he is too good for comedy clubs and insists on starting at the top? But why would someone who is willing to practice his routine for hours alone in his room, day after day, year after year, in a mock stage setting complete with sound effects, not be willing to practice his routine in live comedy clubs? And in the end - warning, this is a spoiler - just when Rupert gets his chance to do his routine on the nationally televised Jerry Langford show - the equivalent of The Tonight Show - just when we expect him to bomb in the worst way, we discover that Rupert is actually a funny, insightful, and talented comic. At the same time we discover that he does indeed have enough mental nuts and bolts not only to understand how the world works, but how to manipulate it. But still, Rupert is so unlikable that you can't cheer for his brilliant success. Of course, you can't believe it, either. A crazy boor like Rupert could never make it in the real world. There is the movie "Revenge of the Nerds"; maybe this film should have been called "Revenge of the Losers"?
Interestingly, on the DVD, there is a deleted scene in which Jerry Langford - Jerry Lewis - performs his opening comic routine on his TV show, and I can see why it was deleted, because it was actually not very funny, in fact, it was a little weird. Rupert's routine was much better. Maybe that was intentional? But again, throughout the entire movie we are led to believe that Rupert is a phenomenally bad comic. We are left wondering as to what Jerry makes of Rupert's success. Or maybe Rupert's TV show has replaced Jerry's? That would be funny.
I've neglected to say anything about the two lead female characters, Masha, an obsessed stalker who "loves" Jerry and conspires with Rupert, and Rita, Rupert's "Queen of Comedy." They play their roles well and add interest to the story, but they are secondary characters and add nothing significant to the plot. Rupert's ego tends to dominate this movie.
Classic 
2009-10-08 - Rupert Pupikin is no king and this is no comedy. The 34-year-old jobless narsacist has spent years honing his stand-up in mommy's cellar. This gives him the idea that he should go on Jerry Langford's--who is for all practical purposes Johnny Carson--late night network show and eventually get his own gig.
Pupkin barges into Langfor's limo one night and is given the ultimate show-biz blow off: send me a tape. Anyone else might, but Pupkin takes out his high school crush the same evening, convinced he has made it to the big time. When rebuffed, he and a cohort kidnap Langford, and Pupkin gets his fifteen minutes, then goes to jail.
This plot sounds interesting enough and it is. But what makes this movie so memorable is the viceral discomfort other people feel around Rupert and we feel watching. He walks around New York City, asking to use phones--no cells in 1983-barging where he is not wanted, and mugging for camaras that are not there. He is pushy, arrogent, and, at first, more of a local nucance than a sociopath.
Rupert is either totally oblivous to his impact on other people or simply does not care. Watch the way his date looks away from him and asks for another drink while rolling her eyes. Watch how Lengford's assistant first uses corperate manners with him, then gives a professional, stuffy rebuff when Pupkin questions her judgement. Look at the disconfort when he crashes Lengford's house. Even when Langford is undisputably livid, Pupkin does not get it. Most people would be ashamed at invoking these reactions in people.
We all know or have encountered someone like Rupert, and the only thing worse than being embarressed for yourself is being embarressed for someone else. That involuntary tensing you feel in your body you get that just makes you want to evaporate.
That is what we experiance watching this. You want to look away but look further in. King Of Comedy in a sense is not about empathizing with Rupert--ill as he is and he is quite ill--but empathizing with all those unfortunate enough to have to deal with him. The film is such a classic due to its ability to convey this in a viceral way and not an intellectual one.
The movie is also interesting in the way it shows how the misfit can become quite dangerous quite quickly.
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Please do not misunderstand: I am not talking about the local eccentric you meet and like for his uniqueness, his ability to say what no one else will, his different outlook. These people are a gift from the Gods. I am dealing with the adult baby with no social IQ and no sense or regard for anyone's needs but his or her own. You never know what anyone is capable of, and the village idiot can become the village menece very fast.
The ending. When Rupert gets out of jail he becomes a star on TV. For years, the debate on this film is if this really happened or if it's an extention of this screw-up's narsicistic fantasy. When he walks on stage, the announcer says "wonderful, wonderful, wondeful."
TV does not sound this way. Rupert the star? Highly unlikely
Great fun
2009-03-22 - King of Comedy is a howlingly funny movie. Robert De Niro is perfect; who knew he could do comedy, though this move is far more a character study than slapstick or standup routine. Jerry Lewis is also wonderful as the slightly tired, seen-it-all, autumn-of-his-career late-night chat show host, beset by his fans, and fanatics. An unforgettable, wonderful cameo by Sandra Bernhard, who is perfectly cast as the delusional hanger-on in the movie, seemingly mirroring her real-life situations (I vaguely remember her David Letterman Show obsession with Madonna?).
Dark Comedy
2009-02-21 - Director Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY (1983) has much in common with his TAXI DRIVER (1976), with the exception that the earlier film is a stark, violent drama and the latter is played for laughs, albeit dark, poignant ones.
Both films deal with individuals, isolated from the mainstream of society, whose frustration ultimately causes them to lash out in order to get what they want. And, both movies have similar ironic endings.
Robert DeNiro stars THE KING OF COMEDY, playing a nerdy comedian wannabe who, after numerous rejections from his staff, kidnaps talk show host Jerry Lewis and holds him hostage in order to get a shot on his television show. Amorous Lewis fan Sandra Bernhard is his partner in the plot.
Perhaps the most interesting character in the piece is the one played by Lewis. Though adored by his public and catered to by his staff, he is actually just as lonely and isolated as the DeNiro and Bernhard characters.
An excellent, under appreciated film.
© Michael B. Druxman
Wishy washy as one can get.
2009-02-09 - Martin Scorsese has said that he pulled the camera away from Travis Bickle as he talks to Betsy over the phone in "Taxi Driver" because it's just too embarrassing to watch. That sense of painful embarrassment pervades throughout the entirety of "The King of Comedy."
It's a difficult film to applaud, but it's even more difficult to damn. "The King of Comedy" is one of those films that weeds out the less vigilant viewers among us. It's the story of an obsessive going after his desire--a career in comedy? Or just a moment of recognition?--in the most manic and unsympathetic ways possible. And it does so in meticulous (or you might say: slow) fashion. I felt that watching through to the end paid off--for me, the ending made the whole thing worth it. The thrill of the finale is thematic: it's not the conclusion to the story, but the question raised that makes this film more than what it seems.
Still, it doesn't seem like awful much.
