- Actors: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard, Shelley Hack
- Directors: Martin Scorsese
- Writers: Paul D. Zimmerman
- Producers: Arnon Milchan, Robert F. Colesberry, Robert Greenhut
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Warner
- VHS Release Date: 3 April 2000
- Run Time: 109 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004S317
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 24,786 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The King of Comedy, which flopped at the box office, is actually a gem waiting to be rediscovered. Like A Face in the Crowd (a not-so-distant cousin to this film), Network, and The Truman Show, its target is show business--specifically the burning desire to become famous or be near the famous, no matter what. Robert De Niro plays the emotionally unstable, horrendously untalented Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe Vegas-style comedian. His fantasies are egged-on by Marsha, a talk-show groupie (brilliantly played by Sandra Bernhard) who hatches a devious, sure-to-backfire plan. Jerry Lewis is terrific in the straight role as the Johnny Carson-like talk-show host Jerry Langford. De Niro's performance as the obsessive Pupkin is among his finest (which is saying a lot) and he never tries to make the character likable in any way. Because there's no hero and no-one to root for, and because at times the film insists we get a little too close and personal with Pupkin, some will be put off. Yet it's one of Scorsese's most original and fascinating films, giving viewers much to consider on the subject of celebrity. Its inevitable climax is clever and quietly horrific. --Christopher J Jarmick
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This has to be one of the sharpest, darkest and most subtle comedies ever made. It is hilarious, it has brilliant performances all round and has a great satirical statement to make.
Robert De Niro brilliantly portrays the delusional slightly creepy (but curiously loveable) loser Rupert Pupkin with dreams of becoming the 'king of comedy'. He badgers his hero, chatshow host Jerry Langford incessantly after a chance meeting believing that he and the celebrity have a friendship. His delusions are eventually shattered when he realises that Langford isn't the funnyman and the hero he thought he was, but a miserable and aggravated man who hates his fans. What results is a kidnapping where he holds Langford and demands a small slot on langford's chatshow as ransom.
The film cleverly shows us societies pathetic obsession with the media and the celebrity and strips it down and condemns it to fallacy. Rupert Pupkin is hilarious at times- as a comedian and in real life- in his appearence, his bumbling harmlessness and not so convincing act as a threatening kidnapper, whilst at other times he seems quite unnerving- his obsessions and his fantasy world we are left to construe are slightly discomforting. Jerry Lewis is dynamite as the old crettenous chatshow host who hates the world around him.
Scorsese has created a first rate, highly intelligent comedy which depicts obsession, delusion, and the whole fallacy of the media in a little, unpretentious gem of a movie. It is also a great 'New York' film, some of the shots of the streets of NYC really give the film its gloomy, brooding and serious tone. This is easily one of De Niro's greatest films, it shows he can be very funny and gives him another chance to play the 'antihero' again (like in Taxi Driver). One of my all time favourite films- check out the comedy routine at the end, it's hilarious!
Robert De Niro brilliantly portrays the delusional slightly creepy (but curiously loveable) loser Rupert Pupkin with dreams of becoming the 'king of comedy'. He badgers his hero, chatshow host Jerry Langford incessantly after a chance meeting believing that he and the celebrity have a friendship. His delusions are eventually shattered when he realises that Langford isn't the funnyman and the hero he thought he was, but a miserable and aggravated man who hates his fans. What results is a kidnapping where he holds Langford and demands a small slot on langford's chatshow as ransom.
The film cleverly shows us societies pathetic obsession with the media and the celebrity and strips it down and condemns it to fallacy. Rupert Pupkin is hilarious at times- as a comedian and in real life- in his appearence, his bumbling harmlessness and not so convincing act as a threatening kidnapper, whilst at other times he seems quite unnerving- his obsessions and his fantasy world we are left to construe are slightly discomforting. Jerry Lewis is dynamite as the old crettenous chatshow host who hates the world around him.
Scorsese has created a first rate, highly intelligent comedy which depicts obsession, delusion, and the whole fallacy of the media in a little, unpretentious gem of a movie. It is also a great 'New York' film, some of the shots of the streets of NYC really give the film its gloomy, brooding and serious tone. This is easily one of De Niro's greatest films, it shows he can be very funny and gives him another chance to play the 'antihero' again (like in Taxi Driver). One of my all time favourite films- check out the comedy routine at the end, it's hilarious!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When the King of Comedy was released in the early 80's reality TV had yet to be concieved. Which is precisely why it bombed at the box office. Only now, in an era when you can't switch channels without seeing another group of talentless, dysfunctional losers selling their dignity in the pursuit of fame, does the character of Rupert Pupkin strike such a resonant chord. DeNiro, plays Pupkin - a delusional wannabe comic who believes that his is a talent that deserves primetime exposure, and to that end kidnaps talkshow host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) in order to gain his fifteen minutes of fame. The darkness and subtlety of the movie was lost on audiences at the time - unsure of how to take a film whose title suggests a comedy when in fact it was anything but. As the film closes, Rupert does become famous in the Z list sense of the word, a damning indictment that paved the way for the Big Brother losers who would follow nearly two decades later. A very under-rated film and one which would be critically acclaimed were it released to day.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
With this film, Scorsese and De Niro have struck a perfect balance : on the one hand, De Niro builds up Rupert Pupkin as a totally convincing three dimensional character; on the other, Scorsese never romanticises or gloryfies him, always keeping him in check. Scorsese is just as scathing about his main character as he is with just about everyone else in the film. The effect of this is that we understand Rupert's plight, we sympathise, and in a bizarre way, we want him to succeed. Yet at the same time, we realise that he's actually quite pathetic (in the true sense of the word). He's a man who wants to go straight to the top without working for it. This film is as much a comment on the system that allows (talentless) people to do this in the entertainment business as it is about this individual. Jerry Lewis is superb as Jerry Langford, the King of Comedy ousted by De Niro's Pretender to the Throne. One of the best stylistic devices in this film are the trips we take into Rupert's mind : a place where he regularly meets Jerry Langford, gets told how brilliant his material is, and is told to spend the weekend at Langford's country house. It is this huge difference between the fantasy world in Rupert's head and the reality of his life (he's lonely, an egotist, he still lives with his mother, his friends are mainly autograph hunters and to top it off, he's actually not that funny), it is these things that make you realise about half way through the film that the man is insane.
And yet he succeeds. At the end of the film he gets his fifteen minutes of fame. And that's all that counts. As Rupert himself says "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime!" Somehow we all know that, ironically, the reverse is true. A wondeful movie, a great performance by De Niro - playing against type - who makes Rupert Pupkin one of the quirkiest and most interesting movie characters of the last twenty years.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Painful
This film is a raw dissection of human illusions. Not one if you're looking for a feel-good experience! Read more
Published 16 months ago by William Cohen
Did not expect that!!!
I bought this film on a whim. I had seen all of Scorsese's major works, such as Raging Bull, Goodfellas, etc, so I decided to branch out into the directors lesser known work. Read more
Published 17 months ago by West - Side Glory
De Niro the King of Comedy? You'll be pleasantly surprised...
I bought this film for an university assignment and although admittedly I picked it for unsophisticated reasons (it contained the word 'Comedy' in the title which made it sound a... Read more
Published 19 months ago by CasualBrowser
A classic tale of the human psyche
First up, Scorsese's King of Comedy is an excellent movie. It's an absorbing tale and is brilliantly acted (especially by Robert De Niro as the mediocre but aspiring comic, Rupert... Read more
Published 23 months ago by LXIX
More relevant than ever
A box office flop maybe, Scorsese's brilliant satire has been vindicated not just by contemporary critical acclaim but by the extent to which it foresaw the ugly celebrity obsessed... Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by P. Martin
The King of Film...
...No one could disagree of this statement being true when talking about the man that is Martin Scorsese, but this brilliant film tends to go overlooked by most when thinking of... Read more
Published on 6 April 2010 by Allan William
a great film
The king of comedy is a film that i have only just discovered,i had heard of it but was always put off by it,i aint sure why,perhaps if it had been certified '18' then i may have... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2009 by sean paul mccann
A fantasist lives his fantasy
Again I was completely ignorant of this film which is a gem. I can see why it was not a box office hit as it has an uncomfortable humour about it. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2008 by Peter Wade
Exceptional and Tragic-Beautiful
What a film; easily makes it into my top five films. It is so very stylish, elegant, funny; it is also very dark.
A wondrous achievement. Watch it.
A wondrous achievement. Watch it.
Published on 17 May 2008 by James Blackman
The Prince of Scorcese's Movies
Almost prophetic tale of society's dangerous obsession with celebrity and the media's manipulation of it. What an insightful film this was/is by that gifted film maker. Read more
Published on 29 July 2007 by Lou Knee
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