Review of The King of Comedy (1982) by Lady D — 17 Jul 2011

Robert De Niro's Rupert Pupkin is an aspiring stand up comedian who has dreams of making it big and wants to bag an appearance on the Jerry Langford show. When he is rejected he and an accomplice hatch a plan to kidnap Langford.

So we're not exactly talking about earth shattering stuff and given that this was the Scorcese/De Niro follow up to Raging Bull it's difficult to see the appeal here. Pupkin is the sort of irritiatingly relentlessly enthusiastic character that I can't abide for too long. Of course the main problem is that King of Comedy just isn't funny. Even when it takes a darker tone it's still just dull. It's a very average film which was made by some famous people who had done great things in the past. If King of Comedy had names other and Scorcese and De Niro in the credits I can't help thinking this would have been long forgotten by now.