The King Of Comedy (1983)

A would be stand up comic (Robert De Niro) works as a messenger during the day but he has fantasies of stardom. He attempts to infiltrate himself into the life of his idol, a popular late night talk show host (Jerry Lewis), in a bid to get his break. The problem is ... he's psychotic! Normally, I'm not bothered with films that are populated entirely by unsympathetic characters but this is one unpleasant movie. De Niro's Rupert Pupkin is Travis Bickle light. He's not as explosively dangerous as TAXI DRIVER's protagonist but they're both whack jobs. One wonders where Martin Scorsese is going with this and he doesn't, go anywhere I mean. I'm tempted to call De Niro's performance soulless but since I'm not sure Pupkin has a soul, perhaps De Niro is on the right track after all. Still, there are a small handful of things to treasure, principally Jerry Lewis's performance which is rock solid. Even the Lewis haters seem to like it though I suspect it's because they feel they are seeing the "real" Jerry Lewis. Not unusual, Scorsese's female characters come off poorly. Sandra Bernhard's freaky fan is made nuttier than De Niro and even Diahnne Abbott's character is undermined by a petty act of thievery. With Tony Randall, Shelley Hack, Marta Heflin, Victor Borge and Dr. Joyce Brothers.