The film speaks of a person named Robert Bobkin who is a comedian who seeks a goal and reaches his goal but faces consequences that have to succeed but in an indirect way Robert confessed to the studio audience that he had kidnapped Jerry Langford to storm the business fair, Langford Comedy and a talk show host.
The King of Comedy fancies itself a scathing social satire about the lust for celebrity carried to extremes. But ultimately, director Martin Scorsese's movie is a severely misconceived and distasteful study of delusional behavior.
I'm going to side with the dissenters this time. I can see where it might be perceived as a dark comedy, but that label doesn't absolve it from an overarching sense that Scorsese didn't push this one far enough.
To be sure, Robert De Niro turns in another virtuoso performance for Martin Scorsese, just as in their four previous efforts. But once again -- and even more so -- they come up with a character that it's hard to spend time with.
The tone it establishes is challenging, because there are funny scenes and situations which could easily be played for laughs, but that black cloud of tension and danger hangs over all of them, and Scorsese won't give you that release.
Scorsese infuses this tale with the passionate energy of New York street life and an outsider's wonder at the powerful workings of show business and studio craft.