When a movie title itself speaks of humor, it's usually serious. The only exception I can think of is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Netflix calls this Martin Scorsese piece a black comedy, but I think it works best if you go in expecting a drama with some thriller elements.
Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) badly wants to do guest stand-up on the late-night show of Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis in his 50s, basically as himself). His aggressive tactics get Jerry to mildly encourage further communication, but as we'd all suspect, it's just a polite way to send him off. About halfway in, Rupert and his...well, not friend and certainly not girlfriend...comrade-in-obsession Masha (Sandra Bernhardt) abduct Jerry in order to demand a ten-minute opening act. Rupert knows he'll go to prison for it, but to his mind, even fleeting stardom is worth it.
As a rule, if a scene includes someone complimenting Rupert and sounding sincere, it's a daydream of his. You know how some viewers of the same director's Taxi Driver suspect that Travis imagines the part after the climax? It's no less likely for this ending. But hey, if it is a comedy of sorts, then maybe we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the final surface impression. Scorsese did want to blur the line.
Rupert, who claims to be 32, reminds me a lot of Millennials as typically described by non-Millennials: appallingly childish. He has no shortage of self-confidence and a vast sense of entitlement, fully expecting to be welcomed in based on Jerry not outright refusing him from the get-go. He's lazy and/or impatient to boot, not following the repeated advice to gain experience and therefore clout at, say, nightclubs. He doesn't think to make an audio tape until asked. He even lives, or at least practices regularly, in his mom's basement -- assuming he doesn't hallucinate her shouting for him to tone it down.
We don't actually get a sizable sample of Rupert's sense of humor until near the end. I'm left to wonder whether they had a decent comedy writer doing rather badly on purpose or an actual total novice unashamed to present an honest effort. I do understand that De Niro's model was Richard Belzer with a possible touch of Tony Clifton. Me, I've heard worse from Stand-Up Spotlight among other sources, but it's definitely cheesy. To be fair, we get nothing from Jerry himself.
Masha is arguably worse. As a stalker with an over-the-top crush on Jerry, she makes less pretense at civility or level-headedness. I'm impressed that Bernhardt, who had had little training, improvised most of her lines, with a little cooperation from Lewis and De Niro. (Incidentally, the only other thing I know her from is Without You, I'm Nothing, which largely consists of a stand-up comic bombing spectacularly.)
I'm not surprised that Scorsese has regretted this picture. Not only did Entertainment Tonight deem it the flop of the year, but the embarrassment inherent in the plot made it rather painful to create. Supposedly, this is why he and De Niro didn't get back together until Goodfellas.
Nevertheless, the majority of voters on multiple sites today are glad he made it, as am I. So what if it's never all that funny? It makes you feel what you're supposed to feel. It's full of credible dialog and an almost credible story. More importantly, it's a slight departure from the norm for Scorsese, whose hits always struck me as a little too alike.
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