Review of The King of Comedy (1982) by Ivan D — 08 Apr 2010

Countless times this Scorsese film has been compared to his earlier masterpiece "Taxi Driver", but above the basic plot elements, the two films are very different, especially the two protagonists' actions: Travis Bickle was motivated by an endless haze of nothingness, resulting in violence, Rupert Pupkin's motivation is to rise to the top as quick as possible, resulting in one of the most grueling films to watch, and I say that as a compliment .

I would not commend Robert De Niro's performance anymore as there are no doubts about his talent. But Jerry Lewis was exceptional as Jerry Langford, and so was Sandra Bernhard. And just like Taxi Driver's ending, it is up to us viewers to decide whether the ending sequence was in touch with reality or with fantasy.

If it's the first, then it was a massive satirical attack and a very prophetic view to society's transformation of villains and wild-behaving people into enigmatic celebrities. If it's the latter, it fits perfectly with Pupkin's fame-chasing psychology.

Either way, Pupkin's an unexpected victor, started out nothing with cardboards as audiences, fans none but himself, but came out as a king for a night, ably removing a percent of being a schnook from his otherwise otherworldly existence.