Directed by Martin Scorsese
Expectations: Moderate.
The experience of watching The King of Comedy felt like looking at a shirt with a single loose thread. At first everything seems perfect, but once you notice the flaw, it’s all you can focus on. Robert De Niro’s character Rupert Pupkin is this thread personified, and as Scorsese pulls him through the film, I wondered how far he would take it. He couldn’t possibly pull the whole shirt apart, could he? The King of Comedy goes in directions I never would have expected, and this is exactly what makes it a riveting experience. It was a flop upon its initial release, but thankfully intrepid film fans have kept this one alive over the years, as it most definitely deserves to be seen.
As good as it is, though, it’s not a film for everyone. The comedy that runs throughout the film is dark and uncomfortable; the type of stuff that you feel bad for laughing at. What makes the comedy so uncomfortable is that Rupert Pupkin is such a sad character at his heart. He’s likeable to a point because De Niro’s inherent charm goes a long way, but with each passing scene Pupkin pushes this boundary further and further towards the edge, daring you to keep following him. He is a fascinating character; a king in his own mind, Pupkin just has to convince everyone else of it.
Outside of the well-wrought artistic elements, the film’s success hinges on the performances of its two leads: Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. Robert De Niro plays the obsessive Rupert Pupkin to perfection, oozing slimy charm and flashing oblivious smiles aplenty. I’m not all that familiar with Jerry Lewis’s films, but I know enough to know that this subdued, dramatic role was pretty far from the standard Jerry Lewis movie. Lewis is excellent here, and if The King of Comedy didn’t bomb at release, this is exactly the “playing against type” kind of role that instantly nets Oscar buzz. Instead, Lewis’s performance faded into obscurity and has more than likely been a favorite on “Oscar snub” lists across the blogosphere for years. Someone has to take the bullet for Internet lists! Thanks, Jerry!
Also: props to Scorsese for slyly including a moment of Jerry Lewis watching Sam Fuller’s Pickup on South Street on TV.
The King of Comedy was a part of the 2013 Blind Spot Series where I see one movie a month that I feel I should’ve seen a long time ago. It’s all the brainchild of Ryan McNeil over at The Matinee, one of the web’s premiere film blogs. Head over there tomorrow where he’ll have a post of his own for the series, as well as links to all the other people taking part in the series.