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The King of Comedy (1982) N
Mentally unstable man has dreams of greatness about being a famous comedian. When the world doesn't adhere to his fantasies he tries to force the matter.
Why am I feeling like I've just watched a remake of Taxi Driver? Sure de Niro has slightly different neuroses in both films but they're still essentially about the same conflict of fantasy and reality (or of want vs. have). And it really doesn't help that de Niro plays both roles pretty much the same (I admit that I feel that way from majority of his roles). I honestly don't know why Scorsese felt this needed to be done.
In a way The King of Comedy feels plausible in its portrayal of obsession and escaping into fantasy (I mean I do dialogues like Pupkin in my head every now then and it's tempting to blame the world for your own shortcomings). While such fixation to public figure seems alien to me and Pupkin is very annoying (I generally hate people who have to talk all the time) he's still relatable. Maybe it would have been better with different actor though - de Niro feels too dangerous and threatening somehow.
There's quite a bit of drag in the film (while Pupkin doesn't mind waiting I'm not too enthusiastic about watching him do so). Masha doesn't feel necessary character at all and her only function is to make the actual kidnapping feel little more realistic. Scenes of Pupkin living his fantasies are pretty good (not sure the "Mom!" stuff was needed though) but the actual stalking is rather dull.
Not a bad film but somewhat pointless. I don't think it's too sharp in its satire either and much prefer something like Network.
Mentally unstable man has dreams of greatness about being a famous comedian. When the world doesn't adhere to his fantasies he tries to force the matter.
Why am I feeling like I've just watched a remake of Taxi Driver? Sure de Niro has slightly different neuroses in both films but they're still essentially about the same conflict of fantasy and reality (or of want vs. have). And it really doesn't help that de Niro plays both roles pretty much the same (I admit that I feel that way from majority of his roles). I honestly don't know why Scorsese felt this needed to be done.
In a way The King of Comedy feels plausible in its portrayal of obsession and escaping into fantasy (I mean I do dialogues like Pupkin in my head every now then and it's tempting to blame the world for your own shortcomings). While such fixation to public figure seems alien to me and Pupkin is very annoying (I generally hate people who have to talk all the time) he's still relatable. Maybe it would have been better with different actor though - de Niro feels too dangerous and threatening somehow.
There's quite a bit of drag in the film (while Pupkin doesn't mind waiting I'm not too enthusiastic about watching him do so). Masha doesn't feel necessary character at all and her only function is to make the actual kidnapping feel little more realistic. Scenes of Pupkin living his fantasies are pretty good (not sure the "Mom!" stuff was needed though) but the actual stalking is rather dull.
Not a bad film but somewhat pointless. I don't think it's too sharp in its satire either and much prefer something like Network.