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Could Travis Bickle cut it as a stand-up comedian? That's the question brought to mind in The King of Comedy, the fifth motion picture collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. The film has enough unique and interesting elements to stand on its own, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the movie is attempting to tread much of the same ground that the pair had covered in Taxi Driver a few years earlier.

De Niro stars as the unlikely-named Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe comedian and obsessed fan of Jerry Langford (the deliciously typecast Jerry Lewis), a Johnny Carson-style talk show host with an almost implausibly rabid fan base. Rupert doesn't just idolize Jerry, he studies his every move, his timing, his delivery, and believes that with enough persistence he can duplicate the formula and break into show business. And Rupert is nothing if not persistent. He's also desperately geeky, needy, not terribly funny in the slightest, and when denied his shot at the top, borderline psychotic. Eventually he formulates a plan to force his way onto national television by kidnapping Jerry and extorting the show's producers into introducing him on air as "The Next King of Comedy."

De Niro exudes his characteristic intensity and plays the role to the hilt, but the movie lacks the expected energy and has little of Scorsese's trademark auteurism on display. Even Jerry Lewis, who seems perfectly poised to play off his real-life persona (the film was supposed to launch a career comeback for the comedian), has been instructed to underplay his role so much that it is hard to understand why his character should be such a beloved celebrity in the first place. Numerous opportunities for him to really go wild toe-to-toe with De Niro are passed over, as though Scorsese were trying to restrain himself in an attempt to appear more mature with the subject matter. As far as I am concerned, the real breakthrough performance here came from Sandra Bernhardt as the competing psycho stalker. She delivers a marvelous stream of consciousness monologue towards the end of the movie that upstages both of the big name actors she was playing against.

The story does raise some interesting issues about the nature of public fame and the way our society treats criminals as celebrities. It also seems shockingly prescient in its depiction of a celebrity stalker, having been made a number of years before the phenomenon was much understood (the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer would not bring the problem to public attention for another six years). Nonetheless, the material just never quite seems to pull together and most of these themes it develops are not entirely dissimilar to those found in Taxi Driver, albeit presented in a substantially less bloody fashion. A rare misfire for the director, The King of Comedy seems to line up all the pieces to make a really great movie, but just never gets there.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Fox Home Entertainment has delivered a sparkling new widescreen transfer for the film, letterboxed to approximately 1.85:1 with anamorphic enhancement. A number of scenes, including the very opening, were shot on video and look like hell, but of course they are supposed to be this way. The rest of the actual film photography looks great. The image is fairly sharp and has robust, clean colors. Shadow detail is fine and there is little to no visible edge enhancement. Some scenes are dark and others are grainy, but the disc provides an accurate representation of the original photography. Only the rare compression or interlacing artifact distracts from an otherwise excellent transfer, and even those are highly infrequent and not likely to be bothersome.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The brand new Dolby Stereo sound mix is essentially still monaural, with the majority of the mix centered in the middle of the front soundstage except for occasional music passages. There is no surround activity. Typical for a movie of its age, the soundtrack exhibits limited dynamic range and feels constrained in its bandwidth. It is cleanly recorded and gets the job done, but is not a particularly innovative or involving auditory experience. I find this a little disappointing, as Scorsese's Raging Bull, made three years earlier, had a great sound design. This film is rather minimalist in comparison.
For the purists out there, Fox has graciously provided the original mono mix on an alternate audio track. During certain passages I felt that this track was slightly richer and more alive. For the most part they sound nearly identical. To be honest, I'm not sure which one I'll default to for future viewings.

A French mono track is also available. The DVD case claims that there is a Spanish dub as well, but this is not to be found on the disc. Spanish subtitles and English captions for the hearing impaired can be accessed through the menus, and the disc also includes true English closed captioning.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Although not exactly loaded with hours of special edition content, the DVD does sport a few interesting bonus features. Most notable is the 18-minute A Shot At The Top featurette. Comprised of recent interviews with Martin Scorsese and Sandra Bernhardt reflecting on what the movie means to them and how it was received on its original release, this is a cut above the usual EPK fluff found on most DVDs and is actually worth watching.

After that we get two deleted scenes, both featuring Jerry Lewis. The first runs only 37 seconds in anamorphic widescreen. The second, more interesting clip was shot on 4:3 video and presents the full version of his character's opening monologue. Lasting almost 6 minutes, this scene allows Lewis to strut his stuff (rather offensive humor and all), and shows us what he was actually hired for.

Finally there are an anamorphic theatrical trailer and a Canadian TV spot. A short still gallery of 35 photos finishes off the disc.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts