Rating: Summary: Killer Comedy Review: A unique film experience! A Paradox and a black comedy to end all!Jerry Lewis summons all his show business experience and delivers a scintillating performance. How uncomfortable can a viewer of this film be? The answer is in Mr. Lewis, performance. DeNiro plays Rupert Pupkin on an edge of madness not seen before in less subtle ways. His obsessions are ever increasing as the film rolls along. Sandra Bernhard is the final exclamation point for all the madness. Bernhard accepts the challenge as to what a psychotic limit is ...and then goes ahead just one more step. Paul Zimmerman wrote this script. One can wonder if he did so in his own basement with cardboard cutouts of the characters. Warning, this film is absolutely terrific! CP
Rating: Summary: One of DeNiro's best! Review: I had seen almost all of the DeNiro/Scorcese films before renting this, and to be honest, I hadn't heard much about this film other than Jerry Lewis' performance. My reaction can be summed up with one word: Wow. DeNiro is stunning. After all the tough guy roles he's had, all the various oddball types, his portrayal of Rupert Pupkin is totally unique and brilliantly done. I was surprised to find Sandra Bernhard here, and by the end was mesmerized by her performance. Then there was Jerry Lewis, filling a role very similar to Johnny Carson's tonight show persona. This film is so good, it made me like JErry Lewis enough that I might watch the Labor Day telethon. Before this, I was either apathetic or turned off by his work. Here, he was nothing short of amazing. Rent this movie today!
Rating: Summary: One of Scorsese's most underrated films Review: This movie was extremely funny. Made as a retort to all the flak he recieved for the John Hinkley Shooting for Jodie Foster. Jerry Lewis Playing the straight man is more funny that it should be, and DeNiro is simply fantastic, a sleeper hit! my advice is rent it, it's not for all tastes.
Rating: Summary: Celebrity jeopardy Review: The King of Comedy brings to light the jolting realization that we are so enamored of celebrity that we are willing to endanger or even destroy the objects of our admiration. It is a fable for our age that reveals the darkness in anyone who worships celebrity and craves its embrace. It is both hard and a delight to watch. And it is simply one of the best films ever made. Robert DeNiro's portrayal of Rupert Pupkin, a would-be comedian, is masterful, and Martin Scorcese's directorial skill is remarkable by the illusion that it is absent in this film. DeNiro and the other characters glide effortlessly through each scene, as though they were subjects in a documentary, their behavior unaltered by the presence of a director. Jerry Lewis is absolutely stunning as the big-time celebrity who is warm and appealing on the screen but cold and abrupt off. He lives in a hardened shell and is accustomed to pushing away the irritating fan who wants to get a bit too close. For him, it's a strategy for survival. Pupkin pursues the opportunity to appear on his idol's television show to the point of committing a serious crime. He stalks the Lewis character tirelessly, but not unlike what many celebrities would say they have experienced with some of their fans. What is disturbing about Pupkin is that his private world, his fantasies and his role-playing spill over so easily into his public persona. He is convinced he is a great entertainer, yet DeNiro is brilliant enough to show us that he modestly talented but not destined for the big time. And never does one get the impression that Pupkin understands that his behavior is inappropriate, not even when his hero, played by Jerry Lewis, turns him out with rebuffs blistering enough to wilt the adoration of the most admiring fan. Fame often isolates the famous, even as it captivates those who pursue it, and that dynamic is illustrated poignantly in the brief encounters between the characters played by DeNiro and Lewis. Pupkin is determined to become a famous comedian, not by working the clubs and scrapping for gigs, but by entering the celebrity world fully formed, a ready-made star who bypassed the years of one-nighters, the comedy club amateur nights or the gnawing doubts about his talents. Pupkin is in a sense a sharp departure from Travis Bickle, a character made famous by Scorcese and DeNiro in the film Taxi Driver. But in another crucial respect Bickle and Pupkin are chillingly similar. Both have a view of their relative importance that far outstrips their authentic relevance. Both are willing to engage in progressively antisocial behavior to achieve their ends. And while Pupkin is superficially polite and restrained, his determination will no doubt push him to act out in an antisocial manner. This film is in such contrast to what we have come to expect from Scorcese and DeNiro that I am afraid it never will be fully appreciated. But it deserves to be seen. Anyone who hasn't seen it should make it a point to do so.
Rating: Summary: GREAT FILM ONE OF SCORESE'S BEST BY:Anthony Benedetto Review: Great film on america obession with the media.. Scorese's done it yet again.
Rating: Summary: A touching and great movie Review: The king of comedy is a very dark but heartwarming movie.The movie shows how a lot of loved and famoeus people can be dark and greedy.In the movie it showed how one man could make it to the top and beat the odds.for scrosese and deniro fans this would be a great movie.
Rating: Summary: Touching Black Comedy Review: A funny satire on America's media obsession. This movie pre-dates the celebrity/stalker phenomenon. A poignent and touching story about Rupert Bupkin (De Niro) who only fantasizes about his life, instead of having one. Great performances by De Niro, Lewis, and Bernhard. Scorsese's direction is marvelous as usual. One of my favorite movies of all time.
Rating: Summary: CULT MOVIES 3 Review: 3. THE KING OF COMEDY (comedy, 1983) Rupert Pupkin (Robert DeNiro) is a struggling stand-up comic in NY. He constantly daydreams on appearing on the hottest show in town ("The Jerry Langford Show"), and meeting its host, Jerry (Jerry Lewis). Rupert is optimistic on everything he does. He rehearses his acts in the basement of his mother's house, whilst pretending to be on the show. Besides honing his comedic skills, he spends his time impressing high-school sweetheart Rita, now a disillusioned bartender. Along with Masha, a "supremo" Jerry fan, they engineer a plan by which to meet and convince Jerry into letting him appear on the show. Nevertheless, Jerry ignores him as another crackpot. Rupert, however, remains undaunted in his efforts and looks for other ways to display his talent. Critique: Robert DeNiro's long and successful partnership with director Martin Scorcese has produced some of the best films of the last decades. In their films, DeNiro usually plays dark and disturbed loners whose volatile nature makes them a threat. Therefore, it comes as a pleasant surprise to find in the Scorcese-DeNiro oeuvre The King of Comedy, their first venture into comedy. While DeNiro's Rupert Pupkin is still a lone-loser, his characterization is faultless. The major asset of the film though is Jerry Lewis, as a David Letterman-type icon. After years of playing the sidekick idiot to Dean Martin (as well as countless "child" comedies), Lewis for the first time plays it straight. His embittered, show-biz-like personage brings to the film a reality that is essential to its theme. His performance has left me wondering where his acting awards have gone. QUOTES: Rupert: "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime."
Rating: Summary: so many people miss the point! Review: When I first saw Scorsese's "King of Comedy" I didn't get it. I thought it was simply an average movie. That was until the last 30 seconds. After I saw that closing scene, I rewound it and watched it again. Then again. I have watched the King of Comedy more times that any other film, because each time I get something out of it and even today, it is so relevant to the whole issue of fame in America, and the sick and twisted lengths that not only will people go to achieve it, but those who revel in the fame of so many untalented individuals on TV and on screen. Why do so many zeroes become heroes??? Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a stand up comic who harbours unrealistic praise on his own talent which is zero. Honing in on Jery Langford (Jerry Lewis - in a vastly underrated and professional performance), who hosts his own tonight show, Pupkin tries to convince Langford to let him appear on his show. When things don't go right for Pupkin, he takes matters into his own hands, and cannot tell the difference between reality and his dreams. It is a wake up call to the instigators of media and fame in modern day America. So many people miss the point of this movie. Which is a shame, because it will make you look at the rich and famous in a totally different light. For over ten years, I have yet to see a film that still intriques me as The King of Comedy. Everyone should see this film!
Rating: Summary: so many people miss the point! Review: When I first saw Scorsese's "King of Comedy" I didn't get it. I thought it was simply an average movie. That was until the last 30 seconds. After I saw that closing scene, I rewound it and watched it again. Then again. I have watched the King of Comedy more times that any other film, because each time I get something out of it and even today, it is so relevant to the whole issue of fame in America, and the sick and twisted lengths that not only will people go to achieve it, but those who revel in the fame of so many untalented individuals on TV and on screen. Why do so many zeroes become heroes??? Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a stand up comic who harbours unrealistic praise on his own talent which is zero. Honing in on Jery Langford (Jerry Lewis - in a vastly underrated and professional performance), who hosts his own tonight show, Pupkin tries to convince Langford to let him appear on his show. When things don't go right for Pupkin, he takes matters into his own hands, and cannot tell the difference between reality and his dreams. It is a wake up call to the instigators of media and fame in modern day America. So many people miss the point of this movie. Which is a shame, because it will make you look at the rich and famous in a totally different light. For over ten years, I have yet to see a film that still intriques me as The King of Comedy. Everyone should see this film!
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