The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy
PG | 18 February 1983 (USA)
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Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.

Reviews
ada

the leading man is my tpye

LouHomey

From my favorite movies..

Hattie

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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Staci Frederick

Blistering performances.

bowmanblue

After Robert DeNiro had teamed up with Martin Scorsese on films like 'Mean Streets' and 'Taxi Driver' it was hard to see anything the pair of them worked on failing. Then came 'King of Comedy.' I think that it's unfair to call it a 'fail,' but it certainly didn't set the Box Office alight in the same way their previous collaborations did. At least it has slowly picked up more of a cult audience over the years, but, perhaps most pertinently, it seems more 'of its time' today than in the early eighties when it was actually released. This time round DeNiro plays Rupert Pupkin - the deliberately oddly-named man who lives (basically) in his mother's basement, where he rehearses for the day he becomes a rich and famous stand-up comedian. So sure that he'll make it big time that he constantly stalks a genuine celebrity, Jerry Langford (played effortlessly by Jerry Lewis who basically plays himself throughout), acting like the two of them are old friends. Along the way Pupkin is 'aided' by another of Jerry's stalkers, this time a woman (played by Sandra Bernhard). The two of them, despite not getting on as they're both competing for a place in Jerry's life, team up in order to both get what they want out of their 'friend/lover.'Perhaps one reason it didn't resonate with audiences at the time was that, for a film with the word 'comedy' in the title, it's not - technically - that funny. It's not supposed to be a laugh-a-minute chuckle-fest. If it is any sort of comedy then it's definitely 'black comedy.' You'll feel a sense of sadness for our 'hero' as he's more pathetic than heroic. He can't see what we - the audience - can. Today we live in a world where you can become 'famous' from the comforts of your own home (or mother's basement in Pupkin's case) simply by becoming a 'Youtube star.' Back in the early eighties I'm guessing that not everyone wanted to be famous. Okay, so most people have the odd daydream about being a film star/rock star/astronaut/whatever, but it didn't seem to be until the millennium (perhaps when reality TV took off in a big way?) when everyone decided that fame was within their grasp (and without much talent or effort needed to achieve it!).'King of Comedy' shows how just because you WANT to become famous and think that it's your 'right' because of your 'talent,' you actually need a little more than sheet desire and self-belief. Yes, luck will always play a part in anyone's rise to the top, but what we have here is more of a sad tale of a man who's dream outweighs his talent. If you know what you're getting then you'll definitely find an excellent little piece that is more relevant today than it ever was. Robert DeNiro is still regarded as one of the greatest actors of our generation and it's films like this that will always play a big part in his rich history - even if they weren't quite appreciated at the time.

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thedarkknight-99999

Scorsese took some risks to turn a familiar concept that is actually impossible to work on screen, or at least that what I thought. A lot of familiarity has been revealed at the first half of the third act of the movie along with some clichéd dialogue. Also, the pacing slowed down a bit at the very beginning of the third act. That being said, these flaws didn't bother me so much as the rest of the third act was brilliant!That's by no means what I expected. I thought it's kinda light comedy, but it turned out to be a very subtle dark comedy. Still consider it a more light-hearted version of Taxi Driver! Very under-appreciated, though.(8/10)

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Scott LeBrun

"The King of Comedy" is a knockout dark comedy that remains quite relevant in our current celebrity-worshipping North American pop culture. It shows what happens as Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), a 34 year old hopeless nerd, is desperate for fame and fortune. A struggling stand-up comic, he tries and tries to endear himself to the nations' # 1 comedian / talk show host, Jerry Langford (a well cast, and excellent, Jerry Lewis). When the celebrity ultimately gives him the big brush-off, Rupert and his unhinged friend Masha (Sandra Bernhard, in an impressive breakthrough performance) abduct Langford.Working from an engaging script by Paul D. Zimmerman, master filmmaker Martin Scorsese is able to say a lot about the nature of celebrity. Even today, we do have a climate where people can be famous for no really good reason, yet still milk the situation for everything that it's worth. It also makes you think about peoples' priorities, and misplaced confidence in whatever "talent" they possess. As we can see from Ruperts' big moment in the spotlight, his material just isn't that great. (Although I personally got a chuckle out of the line, "her alcohol contained 2% blood".)It's all enacted with a fair amount of realism, a healthy amount of attention paid to the real-life machinations of the talk show world (both Johnny Carson's and Merv Griffin's series were used as influences), and some absolutely great performances by De Niro and Lewis. The supporting cast has no slackers, either: Bernhard is clearly relishing her role, De Niro's lovely then-wife Diahnne Abbott is appealing as a bartender whom he tries to romance, real life 'Tonight Show' producer Frederick De Cordova is solid as the producer of Langfords' fictional show, and various real life stars have funny cameos as themselves. Members of The Clash have bits as "street scum"; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (in her film debut) is an extra in the opening crowd scene.Darkly humorous without ever being too, too outrageous, "The King of Comedy" is one of those films that's continued to look good and resonate, almost 40 years later.Eight out of 10.

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eagandersongil

We have a movie that is very relaxed, is very light despite being opposed with an appealingly heavy idea, it has a very good script and great rhythm besides dialogues and scenes that remember the Scorsese style well, although it is a whole construction of A comedy movie, in moments he looks like a mafia movie. We have a script that tells the story of Rupert Pumpkin, a man who dreams of being a comedy idol, he kidnaps one of today's greatest comedians, and forces him to take part in his show. It is a constructive script, has an excellent character construction, is a growing and extremely linear script, although it splits into scenes of Rupert's imagination with reality, this may confuse a bit because Scorsese does not change the picture or any aspect that shows Being an imagination, this is good because it privileges the viewer who is more inside the film. The moral of the film is to talk a bit more about the obsession of fame, we run the risk of arrest for a successful night, it also criticizes people who idolize artists by putting them on pedestals common people. We have a dark photograph, with that gray film, it even recalls a mafia movie - not Scorsese's - but we have a touch of humor and irony, we do not have that typical Scorsese rhythm, on the contrary, a good edition, but nothing surprising . Robert De Niro does a very cool acting, he is very fluent, and he does a very good acting but very funny, he is the only one, because the secondary characters are weak. Finally, we have a good comedy movie, with jokes that do not work nowadays, but it's a very clever comedy, and it just proves that Scorsese has a gigantic scope, ranging from comedy to horror.

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