David O'ConnellMIFF 2011: The King of Comedy
July 23rd 2011 23:25
Thank God! Part of the retrospective to celebrate the Festival's 60th year, Martin Scorsese’s 1982 classic hasn’t aged a bit. More than ever, Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), exemplifies, to hilarious effect, the extremes to which a pathetically deluded soul, drunk on the tantalising aroma of celebrity, will go to win – not earn – his fifteen minutes of fame. A cringe-inducing degree of tenacity and self-delusion cement Pupkin as a classic character; here's a man whose base desire for recognition we might even reluctantly empathise with - if only he weren't quite so incapable of limiting his quest to something less than batty in nature!
Letting neither talent nor remorse stand in their way, Pupkin and the suitably deranged Masha (Sandra Bernhard) - a fellow combatant for the attention of night show host, Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) - devise a so-stupid-it-might-work plan to hijack the airwaves. Though for Marsha the ultimate prize revolves around stripping down to her underwear before the restrained Langford.
With De Niro and Bernhard at the top of their game, The King of Comedy revels in its skewered perceptions of Pupkin’s mind. Paul D. Zimmerman’s screenplay perhaps overstretches a couple of scenes, but on the whole it zings with the truthfulness of its uncomfortable observations on obsession - balanced out, of course, with plenty of plain silliness that only enhances the fun.
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