My son wanted to watch this after learning that The Joker was inspired by it. He enjoyed The Joker. I haven’t seen it. I could not be less interested in whatever vision the director of The Hangover franchise has for an overhyped DC villain whose definitive screen portrayal is already in the past. I was delighted for the excuse to rewatch this movie however.
After watching The Irishman I’ve been mulling over my opinions on Scorsese as a director. He is undoubtedly brilliant but for some reason I don’t put him up there with my favourites. I was wondering why this is. I think it’s because his epic American movies have come to overshadow some of his lesser known gems like this film and it’s dark comedy companion, After Hours.
The King of Comedy is a brilliant satire with the energy of a crime caper and the character exploration of a great drama. It’s no wonder Todd Phillips would desire to create something this good but y’know - reach, grasp and all that.
De Niro is great as Rupert Pupkin, a besuited mirror image of Travis Bickle driven by an obsessive quest to acquire the fame sold to him on TV by the object of his fandom, chat show king Jerry Langdon played by Jerry Lewis in a brilliant bit of life-imitating-art casting. Lewis imbues his character with weariness of the unforeseen consequences of success. Pupkin’s fellow obsessive Masha is a spoilt rich girl with daddy issues played by Sandra Bernhard in a performance that makes me wonder why she never became a much bigger star.
Jerry Langford is the only thing that the two of them have in common and their relationship is driven by a dangerous need to one-up the other in getting close to Jerry, leading to them ultimately kidnapping him so Rupert can blackmail his way onto TV and Masha can act out her fantasies.
So far so blackly comic and brilliant. The real payoff comes when we get to finally witness the Rupert’s comedy performance on TV where he reveals the reality of his life and you are seeing his obsession in a whole new light, as an alternative to something potentially much worse. It’s a genuinely brilliant reveal of the character that surprises and reframes everything you have seen. Masha gets her own reveal as well in a monologue during a clumsy, twisted seduction scene that hints at parental neglect and mental illness ignored by privilege.
As much as I love a lot of Scorsese’s other movies, The King of Comedy is a reminder of what a good director can do when he is able to blend genre, character and story in an original way to make a powerful point about the world. who cares if he doesn’t like superhero films? I sincerely doubt that The Joker is a better film than the King of Comedy for its use of a licenced comic book character.