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ARTS
Page 8
Tuesday, May 10, 1983
The Michiaan Daily
Scorsese' Sraging 'Comedy'
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By Richard Campbell
ARTIN SCORSESE'S films, Taxi
Driver, New York New York,
Raging Bull, have deserved and
received much critical analysis. They
are detailed, emotional movies that
contain some of the most witty and
ingeneous use of cinema in recent
American films.
King of Comedy seems to have scare
away critics and audiences alike
People who normally appreciate Sco
sese for his style seem taken back b
this comedy. Critics have called th
work unsettling and nervous.
But rather than being a dark an
disturbing romp through the foiblesc
fame and fortune, King of Comedyi
simply a lightweight exercise i
American humor. There are n
brooding, interior monologues o
emotionally masochistic personalitie
in the film, only caricatures of the rea
world played out ina realistic setting.
Robert DeNiro, playing the boorish
amateur comedian Rupert Pupkin
doesn't get to hide behind the actin
tricks that helped earlier roles. H
doesn't get to weara mohawk, play th
saxophone, or gain 40 pounds. H
doesn't seem as involved in the rol
because the role doesn't demand i
Pupkin doesn't do too much thinking
he's not the most complex individua
you'll ever meet. The only thing Pupki
wants is to be famous, even though h
has demonstrated little talent a
comedy and lots at belligerence.
Standing outside the exit to the lat
night TV talk-show "The' Jerr
Langford Show," Pupkin banters wit
other autograph hounds and fanatics
When Masha, his sometime associate i
signature hunting, gets into the bac
seat of Langford's limosuine, Pupki
helps kick her out, thus getting into th
car himself.
Pupkin's adventure in the land o
fame begins as he begs Langford to giv
him a break on his show, then follow
up on the imagined offer from Langfor
by badgering the talk-show host'
secretary and barging into Langford'
country estate. Suddenly, Langfor
meets with Pupkin at Sardi's an
beseeches Pupkin to take over the shov
for six weeks. But as you hear Pupkin'
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Sandra Bernhard
... Queen for a day
Jerry Lewis yuks it up with Robert DeNiro in a scene from Martin Scorsese's
'King of Comedy.'
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s. mother scream in the background, you
n realize that it's just a daydream you're
k watching. DeNiro gives Pupkin a
n superficial, one-dimensional character
e 'cause that's what Pupkin is. He doesn't
demand of his mirror reflection, "Are
A you talking to me?" as in Taxi Driver-
e he talks to cardboard cutouts of Liza
s Minelli on a mock-up Langford show set
d and says, "You look terrific, Liza."
s As the beleagured Langford, Jerry
s Lewis shows us that his talents are
d definitely higher than the direction of
d his endlessly humorless comedies in-
w dicates. On the annual telethon that
s Lewis hosts, you get to see a more
arrogant, head-strong, and, dare I say,
more mature person. Langford acts a
lot like that, self-confidant and pom-
pous, a little too sure of his fragile life.
Scorsese fleshes out his characters
only a little, letting Langford stare at
silent TV sets in his antiseptic apar-
tment and showing Masha's over-
decorated but incredibly rich apar-
tment. But Scorsese is careful not to let
you get too involved in characters that
are designed to be exaggerations of
reality. The movie gets its biggest
laughs in the scenes where the
stereotypes confront the real world.
When Pupkin invades Langford's
home, the argumient between the two is
acted and scripted realistically, but
everyone in the scene is completely
unreal.
Pupkin's final act of insanity, the
kidnapping of Langford in order to get
on Langford's show, ends predictably
enough, but remains ambiguous, Is his
ultimate success real or just another
fantasy? And that's just about all Scor-
sese has to say about fame in America.,
His message isn't particularly im-
pressive, and neither is his film. But it's
not meant to be as devastating an ex-
perience as Raging Bull. Scorsese's
vision of America is optimistic but
cynical. King of Comedy is lightweight
fun, entertaining and full of bizarre
people fighting their way to the top.
Whatever that is.
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