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February 14, 2005
The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy (1983), Martin Scorsese:
Out of all the movies I was expecting this to be, Taxi Driver-lite was not it. Lite not necessarily in a bad way, but as the natural consequence of switching out the amazingly grotesque Sandra Bernhard for the disturbingly attractive 13-year old Jodie Foster and lots of Jerry Lewis. It's not as good as Taxi Driver, but it's still excellent.
I still can't get over how sublimely ugly Sandra Bernhard is in this. She's absolutely spot on. Jerry, too, but he doesn't have nearly as juicy a role. Robert DeNiro is good enough, but he doesn't nearly fit his role as well as if were Mr. Bickle.
I really liked this. Scorsese has a really good eye for comedy and it's a little surprising how funny this is, seeing how badly some 80's comedy ages. I've always been a little baffled at Martin Scorsese. Gangs of New York was of course underwhelming, but I really didn't 'get' Goodfellas, Raging Bull and especially Casino (which I'm told is a good movie even though it seemed like utter crap). Taxi Driver I found to be excellent, and this too. I guess my Scorsese education will have to continue; the early ones and Christ remain.
14/15
Posted by bing at February 14, 2005 08:15 PM