Movie of the day: King of Comedy
Why aren't people talking about this ad nauseum?
I know that I’m the problem. It took me way too long to see this movie. Embarrassingly long. But now that I finally did (twice in one week), I have two main questions:
Why are we not talking about how relevant and fresh this movie feels in 2025?
Why was it ever remade and set in Batmanland? Yes, I know the correct terms are Gotham/the DC universe.
The King of Comedy is about an aspiring comedian named Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) who develops an increasingly dangerous para-social relationship with famous comedian Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). After a forced encounter with Langford, Pupkin is convinced that he has been invited to appear on Langford’s late night talk show to kick off his comedy career.
After several visits to Langford’s office and rebuffs by Langford’s staff, Pupkin colludes with Masha (Sandra Bernhard), another Langford super fan who feeds off of their mutual delusion. They kidnap Langford and force him to call his staff and get Pupkin a spot on the show that evening. He is eventually arrested for the crime, but already a media sensation leading to a book deal and actual work as a comic when he is released from prison.
First of all, as millennial, when older people rave about Robert De Niro, I always understood, but I see now that I didn’t fully get it. It’s hard when he’s in 10 movies a year for the last decade that mostly consist of Meet the Parents (2000) sequels and Dirty Grandpa (2016). With the occasional Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) in there.
I’ve seen many of his major works. Don’t worry, I’ve seen Heat (1995). I love Heat. And I’ve seen most of the other Scorseses, though I do need to prioritize New York, New York (1977)… But The King of Comedy was different. It felt like when I saw Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Chinatown (1974) for the first time. It blew me away.
Rupert Pupkin is such a familiar archetype now. I can’t believe De Niro originated the loser incel character! De Niro embodies Rupert so well as a guy you’d pass on the street and not think twice about. Yet when he starts talking, his delusion, arrogance, and hurt all come through at once. He sucks. He would pay for a blue check on Twitter. His intensity gets dialed up and down depending on his level of desperation and you want everyone he encounters to see through his act.
Now that I’ve seen Rupert Pupkin, why did Todd Phillips need to write a worse version of him? Joker’s weirdness is always at 10, even when he’s standing silently. That’s not interesting storytelling. Of course he’s an outcast, he can’t perform fitting in the way Rupert can. Genuinely why was Joker (2019) made when this movie exists?
Then Sandra Bernhard as Masha. First of all, her wardrobe is perfect.
The parasocial relationship she has developed with Jerry Langford makes Club Chalamet look like an amateur. The movie alludes to her once sharing a meal with Langford, which she then turned into an obsession. Truly I would follow her on social media. She is absolutely deranged.
And there’s Jerry Lewis.
He seems mostly like not a nice person and I don’t even think it’s controversial to say that Dean Martin has always been funnier than him. But the culmination of his entire career make him so perfect in this movie.
He has the perfect amount of confidence mixed with insecurity of a long time successful comedian who has a complicated relationship to needing to be adored and wanting to be left alone.
Now bringing this back to MovieGrid. There are two movies that I have to use in the puzzle when an appropriate clue comes up, even if it’s not the answer that will deliver the best score- Michael Clayton (2007) and Hell or High Water (2016). They are simply two of the best movies of this century and I respect them too much not to use them. The King of Comedy may become the third movie to be part of this personal Moviegrid rule.
If you are lucky enough to play MovieGrid with me, this is going to be in my go-to Scorsese from now on.