Review of The King of Comedy (1982) by Ben L — 22 Feb 2017

I'm probably in the minority, but as of right now, this is my favorite Scorsese film. It's a look into the life of a celebrity stalker, and it paints an interesting picture of how someone like this might delude himself into believing his attention is desired by the person he idolizes. I loved how the obsession and delusion became more aggressive as time passed.

The fantasy/dream sequences were a superb idea. When the first one hit I didn't know if it was real or imagined, and this works perfectly in the plot. This added element makes it so each time we see another sequence we have to question whether it was really happening. In fact, I still don't know for sure if the epilogue was intended as an actual glimpse into the future or not.

Robert De Niro is great as Rupert Pupkin. He plays him as a sympathetic character, so you feel sorry for him instead of being annoyed or disgusted by him. Sandra Bernhard is a good counterpoint to show what he could be if his obsession is taken to the extreme. But I think the best acting in The King of Comedy came from Jerry Lewis. He is everything you'd expect from a popular TV talk show host, and delivers some of the most subtle and funny jokes in the movie.

The humor was something I never expected. I don't know why but, despite the title, I thought Scorsese was taking this down a more serious path. But the film is darkly comedic throughout and I was chuckling a lot. Scorsese makes a few choices that I don't understand, but most of the time I think it's a very good movie. I was even impressed by the costuming because Rupert's suits looked exactly like someone trying to dress up as his favorite talk show host. Maybe not one of my favorite films of all time, but definitely a treat, and proof that Scorsese has more range than I thought.