I don’t usually dip into two Scorsese films in the same month, but here we are. At least the other one was only as an actor, so I think I’m good. For having Comedy in the title, and being from Scorsese, and starring De Niro pre-1990s, this, spoiler alert, isn’t very funny. It’s that dark kinda comedy. Maybe. Or just flat-out feeling in your gut that nothing good will come of this.
Rupert Pupkin, doomed to having a bad name. So he turns lemons into lemonade and becomes a comedian. Or stalker. Sometimes that’s a fine line, when it comes to the biggest TV Host on television, Jerry Langford. Pupkin is persistent if nothing else, to get his name up there in the Hollywood Spotlight too! He’s Polite. But there’s some lines crossed. And maybe mental issues. But he really does have an appreciation for cork ceilings. They dampen sound, don’t you know.
By this point, Scorsese and De Niro already done like 4 previous movies together, so they know how to play the game together. Jerry Lewis does good in his lowkey portrayal showing the pros and cons of being a famous person among people while not really being a people person. Sandra Bernhard as one even more disturbed than normal? Wow. One of the few times in watching a film where I didn’t want the chick to get naked. She’s...Just...not pleasant. Well done here in playing out a disturbing path of obsession, delusion and comedy that might not exactly be comedy.
